


An Unexpected Reunion

by lancer365



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-26 05:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2640374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lancer365/pseuds/lancer365
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Suyin takes Kuvira with her to the Fire Nation and is confronted with a very unexpected reunion (bad summary...Sorry)...Chapters redone. (Chapt. 6 up)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

An Unexpected Reunion

170 AG

-The Fire Nation-

Kuvira sat in the guard house; her feet propped up on the table as she listened to the bustling conversations of the other guards. She was still tired after only getting about two hours of sleep; she didn't sleep well anymore. Actually, that was a lie; she did when she was with Suyin.

The older woman's presence brought a comforting warmth to her. Kuvira could sleep on a rock with Suyin by her side.

After getting used to falling asleep with Suyin, Kuvira found it harder to go back to sleeping alone. She was too content with drifting into sleep as the matriarch ran her fingers gently through her dark hair. In the moments before her body succumb to the natural cycle of rest and hibernation, everything felt just right; her nostrils drawing in Suyin's perfume; her hand's grip going limp around whatever part of Suyin they clung to.

Even if the matriarch sometimes left before she woke up, Kuvira was grateful enough that Suyin was the last thing she saw, and the first she remembered.

Leaning her head back, the conversations around her died away as she closed her eyes and let her mind wander.

"Hey, are you on shift tonight?"

Kuvira sighed. And just like that her brief serenity was broken.

Yun, one of the other guards and a close friend had walked up to her; her mouth full of half-eaten food. Rubbing the temples of her forehead, Kuvira looked up in annoyance at the dopey expression plastered on her face. Her cheeks puffed out with food as her silver-rimmed glasses slowly slid down the bridge of her nose.

What would it take to get some peace and quiet?

Lifting her feet and rocking the chair forward to its original place on the floor, Kuvira sighed again. "No, not tonight -and I plan on getting some rest." she quickly added, sensing that Yun was just itching to do something with her. Boredom came easy to the ball of energy that happened to be her best friend, Kuvira knew that much was certain.

"Aw, you're no fun." Yun said plopping down beside Kuvira with a defeated slouch, tapping her foot restlessly to maintain her energy.

Yun looked at Kuvira, then looked away; her gaze jumping aimlessly from place to place. She crossed her legs at the ankles; they impatiently shook from side to side. She sat up and squirmed in her seat, trying to plant her restless feet into the ground.

Staring with a blank face at the wall across the room, Kuvira counted in her head. When Yun was as restless as she was now, Kuvira knew she couldn't sit still for any period of time longer than a minute. That's why Suyin typically assigned the edgy guard patrol duty; it kept her feet moving and her mind focused.

Sitting calm, the breath moving through Kuvira's body stayed even and her mind dormant, as she waited for the other guard's probable outburst; fifty seconds having already gone by.

_'10 more seconds.'_

Kuvira closed her eyes, trying to ignore the tireless fidgeting of the guard beside her, hoping Yun would get up and find something else to cure her inherent boredom.

_'3 more seconds.'_

Kuvira inhaled her last peaceful breath.

_'1 more se-'_

"Come on." Yun grabbed Kuvira's arm, tugging her back and forth.

Serenity was broken again as the stoic guard just slowly opened her eyes, and patiently waited for Yun to stop.

"You're only ever with Suyin…and then when you do get time off you're sleeping." Yun stopped and let go of Kuvira.

"Well I'm tired…" Kuvira said with a smile as she slumped the side of her face into her hand and closed her eyes. "I can't help it."

"Come on." Yun grabbed Kuvira's forearm ripping out from underneath her face, sending a sudden jolt through the unsuspecting guard. "I'm not gonna let you just sit here and waste your life away." Yun forcefully pulled Kuvira to her feet and held the other woman by her shoulders. "You...You…"She wore her mind into a frenzy searching for a proper insult while staring into the flat emotion in Kuvira's eyes. "You…buddy neglector."

'That's what she came up with?' Kuvira raised her eyebrow with a small smile; now she was amused.

Yun's grip around her arms was tight and unrelenting.

Kuvira had to admit, the dopey guard may have been a bit on the ditzy side, but her physical fitness was spot on. Yun's bending skills were almost close to her own, and her mental stamina was a lot sharper than most gave her credit for.

Kuvira saw in her what the others didn't. They were either too busy full of themselves, or just weren't gifted with sight beyond the superficial. They couldn't see Yun's powerful qualities hidden inside the child-like adult. But again, she could, and Suyin as well. That's how the small time city police officer got promoted within a matter of weeks. Suyin wasn't one to stand by and waste talent. Kuvira knew that, and introduced the matriarch to the underestimated skills of her best friend. Of course having a place in Suyin's heart helped her case ten-fold. It gave Kuvira the privileges of Suyin's time, and mostly undivided attention.

The noise of the semi-busied guardhouse died suddenly, alerting both armor clad women who stood eye to eye.

"What's going on?" Kuvira asked, looking over Yun's slightly taller shoulder.

"Hmm?" Yun turned around, her instant curiosity breaking her away from Kuvira. She wedged her way through the group of socializing guards in front of them, bumping their shoulders rather roughly.

Yun had no fear; she was always the first out to investigate anything.

Kuvira admired that, but also knew that her lack of discretion and patience could be her friend's greatest downfall. At the right moment and time it could be a strength. But Yun's naturally overzealous courage could just as well get her killed if not judged correctly.

Coming close to the front, Yun's hazel-green eyes searched the room to see the guards close by the door way straightening up to attention. Another guard stopped in front of her, blocking her view with his head. She leaned a little to the side, finally spotting the figure of Suyin standing by the entrance. Her brow furrowed. It was rare for the matriarch to make appearances at the guard house during the day; something must have been important.

"At ease, I just came to speak with Kuvira." After looking around for a moment Suyin asked, "Where is she?"

Yun didn't hear the whole conversation, but she did hear Suyin say Kuvira's name; that was enough for her. Out of Suyin's line of sight, Yun quickly paced back to Kuvira and nudged the guard, who had resumed her seat and gone back to closing her eyes.

"Guess who personally stopped by just to see you?" Yun said jokingly with a suggestive smirk on her face.

Kuvira's eyes flew open and she shoved her hand into the other guard's thigh with a growling grunt; she didn't need to ask who it was.

Hearing nothing more from Yun, Kuvira silently looked up to see the other guard's infamous crooked smile; a semi-playful warning drawing in her own eyes.

"What?" Yun chuckled. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that." She smiled, hardly containing her amusement. "She even asked for you by name. I mean with the rest of us it's just "You, you, and you."" Yun gestured with her finger pointing in the air. "But with you, it's like "Oh, where is Kuvira, my captain of the guard."" Yun mocked in a helpless damsel in distress voice before she broke out laughing for her own enjoyment as Kuvira growled, slowly standing to see Suyin approaching her; the regal woman easing her way through the hushed guards standing around them. With glazing eyes Kuvira watched Suyin get closer and closer, forgetting how bad she wanted to shove Yun again for her mocking joke, even as the guard's laughter slowly died out of respect for Suyin's presence.

How beautiful was this woman? Kuvira stood for a moment in juvenile wonderment. Just the sight of Suyin always made her heart run a mile. All those clothes hid so much of the older woman's true beauty, and Kuvira triumphed in the thought that only she knew how beautiful Suyin was under them. Well her...and her husband, but Kuvira didn't want to think about that reality.

Lost in her daydream, she barely had time to react as her helmet came flying towards her.

"Here." Suyin said with a smirk as she watched Kuvira fumble with the helmet before gripping it firmly.

The guard looked up with a raised eyebrow, silently asking for Suyin to elaborate.

"I want you to come with me to the Fire Nation. I'm going to meet the Fire lord." Suyin said.

Kuvira shifted her eyes downward. "You might want to pick somebody else for this one."

The guards, who had seemingly gone back to their own conversations, got quieter, trying to pick up as much as they could without being obvious. Saying no to the Boss was not something anyone did. Suyin wasn't outright threatening, but that was just it; that was one of the things that made her so deadly. With all her smiles and good hospitality, she was a force nobody ever expected to see coming.

"Don't make this an order Kuvira." Suyin said, her voice commanding her to go, but her eyes pleading for her to go.

Kuvira sighed as she gave up with a nod and followed Suyin out of the room, feeling multiple eyes of confusion resting on them.

In silence, the pair made their way from the guardhouse through the courtyard. Kuvira, watching as Wei and Wing sparred while Opal sat and read under a tree, thought about the pain her relationship with Suyin would bring, if they ever found out.

"Hey, where are you off to?" An all too familiar deep voice sent chills of jealousy through the guard as she turned with Suyin to see Bataar approaching. He came close, grabbing Suyin into a hug, kissing her lightly in the process.

Averting her eyes, Kuvira listened to Suyin speak.

"I-I'm about to go see the Fire lord." Suyin said as her mouth turned up into an awkward smile. She knew Kuvira had witnessed that display of affection, and didn't need to guess how she was feeling in that moment.

"How long are you going to be gone?" Bataar's voice cut through her thoughts of the guard. "You didn't tell me about this trip."

Suyin pulled back in his arms, giving him a playful displeased look as she crossed her arms over her chest with an eyebrow raised.

Smiling nervously, Bataar took an arm from around her and scratched the top of his head. "You did tell me, didn't you?"

Suyin just nodded with a smile. "About three times yesterday…and then again before we went to bed."

Bataar looked away; his nervous smile turning guilty. "Sorry honey, you know how I get when I-"

"I know." She placed a hand on his chest; his eyes connecting with hers once more. "It should be a day trip, but I'll radio in if I end up staying overnight at the palace."

"Okay…" Bataar took his arms from around Suyin and gently squeezed her shoulders. "Be safe." With a brief glance over to Kuvira -who had completely turned away, facing the airship on the platform behind her- Bataar took his leave. His wife was in good hands, no need for him to worry.

Suyin watched him walk away for a moment, before she briefly looked down then turned her head back to Kuvira. Seeing the guard's eyes set in a passive expression staring out at the sky with her hands clasped behind her back, she decided it was best not to talk about what had just happened. "Let's go." Suyin moved past Kuvira, pressing her fingers into the guard's arm to get her attention.

Kuvira slowly nodded her head. Wrenching apart the fingers behind her back that had begun to turn white at the knuckles, she followed Suyin over to the airship entrance.

"You ready to go?" One of the pilots shouted, sticking his head into view from the cockpit as they boarded the airship.

"Yes." Suyin said, leaving Kuvira's side to walk into the cockpit. "Let me know when we get close…I'm sure the Fire lord would love a heads up." She patted him on the shoulder with a smile and turned around. Stopping a moment, Suyin rested a hand along the cockpit's unenclosed archway entrance. Gazing into the open doorway of the room across from her, she watched Kuvira plop down on the couch inside and close her eyes.

_'She must be tired'_

Feeling the airship begin to lift from the ground, Suyin snapped out of her brief stupor and walked out of the cockpit.

With the new technology implemented in airships, they had come a long way from their predecessors. Trips were actually more pleasant and enjoyable since stabilization mechanisms had been upgraded. A trip that years ago made her queasy, now flowed with such ease that Suyin couldn't tell they were off the ground. That feeling of not being connected to the earth was one of the worst for an earth bender, but many -including herself- had gotten used to it at the reward of a much faster trip from A to B.

Suyin headed past the lounge type room Kuvira was in to gather the documents she had brought on-board earlier, planning to get through most of them during the hours long trip.

Her feet padded softly across the gray metallic floor, and she smiled rounding the corner into the war room door way. They may have been off the ground…but having metal under her feet was still a comfort. Her smile quickly faded coming face to face with the egregiously tall stack of papers she loathed, sitting in the middle of the table mapped with each nation for tactical use.

Hoisting the stack into her arms almost made them ache, as she slowly brought it out and into the next room, setting the papers on the dark metal table in front of Kuvira, allowing her eyes to gaze for a moment over the guard steadily falling asleep.

Kuvira's head had slowly started to tilt further downward with every second that passed.

Another but softer smile graced Suyin's face as she straightened up and closed the door to their room. She looked back to the sleeping guard; her hand lingering over the handle with the smile on her face fading away.

Sometimes her mind couldn't help but travel back, envisioning Kuvira as the kid she was over a decade ago. She could still see the child in the guard's face; the little girl who regularly escaped the confines of the estate to watch the guards train, or ran into her office wearing an old guards helmet that was sizes too big.

Was their relationship even right? That thought had plagued her mind for months back when everything between them first started. It was what kept Suyin from holding Kuvira's hand, and believing what they had was real.

Having watched Kuvira grow up as a kid made their love affair all the more difficult for Suyin to digest; at least that was the case at first.

They truly had blurred so many lines. And after a while, Suyin had forgotten to care.

Around the second time she had slept with Kuvira, she remembered lying in the guard's bed, shocked by how quickly she had thrown herself into Kuvira's arms without a second thought.

That same night Suyin rolled over and gazed at Kuvira as she slept, convincing herself that the person she was in love with was no child, but a woman.

Kuvira was an adult now, and who she chose to love just happened to be her.

Suyin was familiar with the phrase "love doesn't choose, it finds." And that was all too true for her and Kuvira. Those simple words described their relationship with utter precision, and rationalized most of Suyin's conflicting thoughts. Somehow, this woman had become more to her than just another human life or employee, holding a special place in her heart she couldn't describe.

Moving around the table Suyin sat down next the guard.

Kuvira's eyes opened feeling the presence of a body next to her. "What-" She sat up straight off the couch cushions, still dazed in sleep; not looking so menacing with a frizzy braid and cowlick beginning to stick up around her head.

Suyin turned her head away from the few papers she had taken and put in her lap to look at the guard, holding back a laugh threatening to break her tame smile. "Get some sleep. We won't be there for a while." She said pushing Kuvira back down with her hand on the guard's collarbone.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hours went by at a much slower pace than the landscape outside the windows, as Suyin tirelessly worked through trade agreements and other documents. She had only gotten up a few times to stretch her legs and take a break. By now, Kuvira was fully asleep and the final time Suyin sat she pulled the guard down from her sitting position, resting Kuvira's head in her lap.

Letting her fingers rake through the guard's hair, she distracted herself from her work as she listened to the soft snores.

"Ma'am, we're here…or getting close." The pilot announced over the loud speaker.

Gently sliding herself out from underneath the guard, Suyin exited the room and moved down to the far end of the airship, meeting the two pilots in the cockpit again with a smile.

"Ok, radio the head guard and tell them I'm here." Suyin said gazing through the large windows to the ground below. Almost the whole Fire Nation city layout was visible from the sky. The roads were winding and twisty, appearing maze-like from so high up. Just looking at it was enough to make Suyin feel overwhelmed.

Unlike newer cities, the Fire Nation infrastructure lacked the linear straight roads native to republic city and Zaofu.

After years of imposing its imperialism on other nations for means of abroad expansion, the Fire Nation itself was left shrinking by the time Izumi took to office. Population was growing fast within the popular urban areas, and space was getting tighter. Facing a growing number of car accidents and crime, the Fire Lord knew it was getting chaotic. After so long she relented, and called for a project of city expansion that would take years to complete. Zuko always advised her- rather strongly- to keep the Fire Nation historical, and she still intended to keep some parts as they were. But the bottom line was that "historical" was getting too small; it was time for modernization and inner expansion.

The head pilot looked up at Suyin from his chair and tipped his head. "Will do."

Coming back into the room only to find Kuvira sleeping face down with an arm draping over the side of the couch, made Suyin want to laugh at how unpredictably child-like Kuvira was when it came to sleep. Mouths hanging open, snoring, etc.…Kuvira was guilty of it all. Yet still this was a moment worthy of being captured in a picture, because even then…it was rare.

_'Spirits, she really was tired'_

But now came the unfortunate task of waking her up.

Suyin walked over and sat back down resuming her previous position, rolling the armor clad guard over until she could see her face.

"Hey…" Suyin started, using her hand to gently shake Kuvira awake. "We're here."

The guard groaned opening and closing her eyes a few times before fully re-entering reality. She felt a hand stroking her cheek as she looked up to see Suyin's face gazing back at her. Why couldn't she wake up like this every day? Kuvira thought before hearing Suyin speak.

"Welcome back." Suyin smiled and continued. "You should go get cleaned up, we'll be landing soon."

Kuvira reached up putting a hand on Suyin's face; her thumb gently kneading into the matriarch's skin.

Soon after a sigh escaped from the guard as she dropped her hand and sat up with another groan. Rubbing the back of her neck, Kuvira stood and stalked over to the door, disappearing moments later to head to the bathroom.

Suyin sighed too, watching Kuvira leave.

These were some of the moments she cherished the most, and always wished for more. What memories could or would be made between them she didn't know. Their seemingly strong relationship was unpredictable, always adapting to the changing circumstances around them. Suyin had no idea what to expect with the twenty-one year old.

With Bataar she at least had a good idea of what they would become after they met and fell in love. He was a good man, and her expectations of a stable future with a family were sure to come to fruition. But with Kuvira she couldn't say the same; it was just different.

"We're here ma'am."

The loud speaker came to life, jarring Suyin from her thoughts. She stood slow and steady, picking up Kuvira's helmet from the table beside her pile of papers, before heading out to the main area.

Walking out Suyin stopped, seeing the guard emerge from the bathroom looking much more rested than she had before; her frizzy hair fixed, and her eyes clear and alert.

"Ready to go?" She asked, once again tossing Kuvira her helmet. This time the guard caught it with an iron grip.

"Yeah," Kuvira said putting it on.

"I already lowered the door down, so you guys are good to go." The pilot said as they both made their way further into the main area.

Suyin stopped at the top of the airship steps, Kuvira close behind her. "Thanks for getting us here." She said giving the pilot a genuine smile.

"And I'll be here when you get back." He tipped his head to both. "Stay safe."

"Will do." Suyin said before descending the steps.

Taking in the red-based scenery around her, she walked over to the young man in a gray double breasted uniform waiting by a Satomobile.

Even in the Fire Nation where two earth benders stuck out like sore thumbs, she wasn't surprised to see a Satomobile. The car's popularity had very quickly taken the transportation industry by storm.

Spreading from Republic City at a rapid pace, the car and its influence permeated the cultures of each nation. Now the middle class had a vehicle that was so mass produced it was affordable to buy. The Satomobile became one of the few, yet ingenious ways to bring the four major nations together; each universally sharing an amount of love and gratitude for the car. The streets of republic city, the fire nation, and the earth Kingdom were filled with them; Zaofu…not so much.

The polished young man cleared his throat as they approached. "Welcome to the Fire Nation, I'm Wong." He followed his words with a bow as the two women stopped in front of him. He was a nervous looking scrawny man, maybe in his 20's. His well-greased and combed hair, eloquent verbiage, and tediously pressed gray uniform were all signs of the extensive grooming most palace employees underwent.

Hastily running to the backseat door, he opened it with an almost too happy smile.

"Nice to meet you Wong." Suyin said with a polite nod, Kuvira doing the same after her. "Well practiced greeting…does the Fire lord tell you to say that to everybody who arrives?" Suyin added with a smug look.

"Yes, she does."

"Well, that sounds like Izumi for you." Laughing, Suyin got into the back seat along with Kuvira.

As the drive went on, Suyin made small talk with the man, easing his nerves.

"I always told Izumi she should build a landing platform near the Palace grounds. Guess she never got around to it."

"Her grace has been very busy."

"Mhm, busy for three years."

Listening to Suyin in the background, Kuvira had resorted to staring out at the passing buildings with her chin resting on her hand. Time had changed so many things since her childhood. Dirt roads had turned into paved ones, and places where small houses once stood were now replaced by buildings that scraped the surface of the sky. However, the fire nation may have looked different, but it still smelled and felt the same. She hated being here; it brought back too many memories.

Suyin leaned back in the seat and glanced over to Kuvira, doing a double take spotting the spiteful look on the guard's face.

"What is it?" She asked, placing a hand on Kuvira's thigh. The angry look slightly dissipated but wasn't gone.

Kuvira looked over to Suyin. "What is what?"

"Why do you look so angry?"

Kuvira opened her mouth, but closed it as she formulated what to say. The only reason she was here was because Suyin wanted her to be; she would have never come on her own.

The prolonged silence troubled Suyin as she gave Kuvira's thigh a squeeze, gaining the guard's attention once more.

"Sorry." Kuvira looked over to meet Suyin's eyes staring back at her with concern. "Don't worry, it's nothing."

"You wouldn't look like that if it was nothing..." Suyin said as Kuvira turned her head to look straight ahead. "…So-"

"We're here." At the young man's voice Suyin hastily pulled her hand off of Kuvira. It didn't matter where they were; people still knew who she was. To start a scandal, even so far away from home, would've been a bad idea.

Thankful for the interruption, Kuvira closed her eyes. She didn't want to talk about any of it; and saying no to Suyin would've been hard. She only wanted to do her job and get back to the Earth Kingdom as quickly as possible.

The Satomobile came to a stop in the vast palace courtyard, and the man quickly got out, opening the door for Suyin.

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the Fire lord." The man said pushing his sliding glasses up at the bridge of his nose as he stood in place with his head tilted down.

None of the palace employees ever made prolonged eye contact with any of the royal family. To do so was a sign of disrespect in their culture, and was ingrained through the Fire Nation constituents from birth. Those lucky enough to work at the palace followed custom procedure ten-fold, and subsequently were held to higher standards than the citizens beyond the palace walls. In the palace they were each representations of their own family name. To disobey custom in place of such high regality was to bring dishonor to that family name. So none did; most were honored to be among the royal family's chosen few.

Suyin turned over her shoulder to watch the guard step off the car and flex her back, rolling her shoulders to stretch out the dormant muscles that were still knotted up from her long nap aboard the airship.

Kuvira's eyes connected with hers, giving her a silent acknowledgement, and an extra push of reassurance. Suyin was already a strong person in her own right, but Kuvira's presence made her feel nearly invincible.

They didn't need to speak to one another to know what the other was thinking. Messages conveyed normally with words, were just as well sent through the eyes. Knowing each other on such an intimate level, not every word or emotion had to be spelled out, and not every gesture had to be dissected to understand the nature of its meaning.

Suyin loved Kuvira's eyes; because unlike her, it was where the guard did most of her talking.

Breaking her gaze away from Kuvira, Suyin set her eyes on an entry way that led to a garden across the courtyard. By her side, she felt Kuvira's warm presence stop. Realizing her aimless staring would only get her lost in thoughts and wonders, Suyin looked back over to the driver who still stood in the same place, silent without a word or a gaze.

Raising an eyebrow out of curiosity, she cleared her throat to get the man's attention.

His head snapped up then down. "O-Oh a-are you ready to go?"

"Yes. We're waiting on you." Suyin smiled. There was no need for him to be nervous, but people tended to be around royalty. And most forgot…she wasn't royalty at all.

"I apologize." The short man turned around and began to walk, leading them through a walkway covered with a traditional red tile roof that was lined in gold around the perimeter of its slightly curved edges and corners. Palace guards were posted along the walkway, lining its sides. At first, the only guards present were at the path's entrance. But the closer they got to the main palace doors towards the end of the far-stretched walkway, the more guards were present.

Coming to the main set of overbearingly large palace doors, the man let out a courageous puff of air as he stopped and stared at one of the heavy doors. "Ok."

Suyin and Kuvira shared an inquisitive gaze, before both stopped, focusing on the scrawny man walking towards the large door.

The Fire Nation guards on duty standing beside the doors did nothing to help him; they didn't even move.

Suyin sympathized with man. He was smaller than Kuvira, and she remembered something from her childhood about the doors weighing over 80 pounds each. She looked over to the guards on both sides with a furrowed brow. 'They should be ashamed of themselves.'

She knew they were probably smiling and chuckling at the man under their concealing fire nation helmets, joking about how weak he was.

Turning her attention back to Wong, Suyin watched him grip one of the gold plated handles with both of his hands. She guessed his plan was to pull the door back using his legs for power and leverage.

To her surprise, he managed to pull it back…all the way.

But something wasn't right, even his own face looked utterly shocked. Suyin looked back to Kuvira expecting to see some form of astonishment on the guard's face. But a quick look down to one of Kuvira's hands revealed the reason it hadn't fazed her at all. The guard's hand furthest away from her was tilted up semi-discreetly at the wrist; her open palm and fingers set in a straight position were all signs of her metal bending.

Kuvira looked over catching Suyin's gaze, knowing she had been caught. She shrugged and whispered. "I figured he could use a hand." She softly smiled; Suyin doing the same as she looked away and back to the man who stood by the side of the open door, ready to usher them in.

"Please, after you." Wong gestured with a smile, pointing his hand politely into the doorway.

Still as beautiful as Suyin remembered it, the inside of Palace was historically ornate; the large columned halls and rooms decorated in Fire Nation colors. As children she and Lin used to come here and play with Izumi, while Toph talked to Zuko. But now, Izumi had taken the throne of Fire lord after her father, and the Fire nation did nothing but thrive under her reign. She ruled steadfast, but fair. And even through their duties as world leaders, Suyin had always managed to stay in touch with her. They would write letters back and forth like kids passing notes in a class; and in those letters contained some of the most intimate details of their lives. They talked about everything from family to politics.

But today, Suyin had a different secret she wanted to tell; one she would never send in a letter.

Although she loved Kuvira, she never realized how difficult it would be to keep a relationship of such magnitude hidden. Sure, she had succeeded in keeping some of her past relationships secret when she was younger; but it wasn't the same with Kuvira. This un-releasable forbidden love was becoming harder and harder to hide, and as a result, weighed heavy on Suyin's mind. It was time for her to tell somebody, and Izumi was the only one she trusted.

The opening sound of another set of large and lavishly decorated palace doors brought Suyin back from her thoughts, as the man led them into the inner chamber where the Fire lord sat waiting -postured perfectly- on one of the scarlet upholstered couches, with guards placed at every edge of the room.

"Fire lord, t-the guests have arrived." He said bowing as the Fire lord got up from her place and approached them, stepping down with ease from the elevated red carpeted flooring.

"Thank you, you may go." The man left as the Fire lord stopped mid-step to turn around, and with a commanding voice she addressed the other guards in the room, "Actually, you may all go."

"But Fire lord tha-"

Swiftly she raised her hand, halting the protesting commander of her guard who held his helmet firmly in his hand.

"No, don't worry about it…Sara will be here soon anyways."

At that name Kuvira's stomach dropped. All she wanted to do now was leave as fast as possible.

The Fire lord waited for every last guard to leave, watching them close the towering doors rich with fire nation engravings, before turning back around to walk towards Suyin. Halfway to the matriarch she opened her arms and gently enveloped the earth bender in a warm hug.

"How long has it been?" The Fire lord said as she broke the hug, grabbing Suyin by the shoulders.

"Too long." Suyin said, a smile growing wide on her face. It had been couple years since last they met in person. Although time had changed their appearances from their youthful days, they still remembered each other as the trouble makers who used to pull pranks around the palace.

"Suyin, would you like for me to wait outside?" Kuvira asked, sensing the personal nature of the meeting.

Suyin looked back over to Izumi from Kuvira, silently asking for her opinion.

Izumi let Suyin go, and moved back until the two were equally in her view. "I don't mind, you're both guests here...it's up to you." She said shifting her eyes from Suyin to Kuvira then back to Suyin.

Suyin looked over to Kuvira. "No, I want you to stay with me."

That added "with me" didn't go un-noticed by the Fire lord, and she glanced among the two again, trying to read into the connection between them. There was something else that colored Suyin tone as she spoke to her guard…it was a way in which she would never speak to any of her guards; but for now, the Fire Lord let it pass.

"Well there's no use in standing…" Izumi said as she moved back over to the sitting area, motioning for them to follow. "Come and sit."

Following the Fire lord, Suyin sat down while Kuvira took her helmet off and stood directly behind her. Izumi looked up at Kuvira…there was something about that face that she recognized.

"How have you been?" Suyin started, quickly tearing the Fire lord's attention away from Kuvira.

"Good…or decent at least, you've read about most of it in my letters." The Fire lord rubbed the temples of her forehead before she continued, "There are some times I wish I wasn't the Fire lord." She smiled as her eyes drifted back up towards Kuvira. What was it about her that she recognized? It was probably nothing and not worth dwelling on, but she couldn't help but stare for a few moments more. "Your turn, how have you been?" She asked looking down at Suyin. "How's the family?"

"They're good." Suyin paused. "Opal and Huan are going o-"

Suyin was interrupted by the sudden forceful opening of the main doors. She turned her head to watch a tall broadened-shouldered woman walk in with a piece of paper in her hand. Not stopping to bow, or request her presence, she marched in with comfortable ease towards the Fire Lord; her almost knee high black boots stepping up the pristine red carpet to their level.

Indiscriminately drifting up, past the woman's dark pants uniformly tucked into the tops her boots, and secured at her waist via a black belt held together by a gold buckle embossed with the Fire Nation emblem, Suyin's eyes set onto the matching color jacket she wore.

It was no doubt made from fine material.

The black cloth was clean, unscathed from stains of any kind. The single-breasted jacket fastened to three gold clasps off-set to one side of the woman's chest. A gold colored border ran along the front of the jacket's main flap; also embroidering the rim of her slightly parted mandarin style collar.

She was a personification of power.

Her stately but modestly decorated clothes gave her a dignified appearance; a stark contrast to her insubordinate attitude. And it was almost abhorrent to Suyin to see the sleeves of such a fine tailored jacket lazily pushed up to the elbow.

Suyin looked back over to Fire lord who didn't seem the slightest bit fazed by the woman's bad-mannered entrance.

"Sara, what have I told you about barging in here like that?"

"Ah suck it up, it's not like you're having sex in here or anything." The woman's deep voice held a dark yet playful tone as she gave an evil looking grin.

Suyin sat stilled; taken aback by how the Fire lord allowed this woman to talk to her.

"Here, I just got back from the east of side town." The woman spoke, handing the paper to the Fire lord, completely oblivious to the company around her. "What you asked of me has been done. I got them to sign it…it took some persuasion, but they got the message." She said with a sadistic tone filling her voice.

"Good." The Fire lord said simply, placing the paper on the table.

Too lost in their thoughts of moment, nobody noticed the shocked look that had passed over Kuvira's face as her eyes went wide. She turned her head away dropping her gaze down to the floor, avoiding eye contact.

Turning her head, Sara looked around the room before her eyes set on Suyin and the guard above her.

"So who are these people?" She sat down next to Fire lord, placing the long sheathed object from her belt on the table that separated the two parties.

"This is Suyin Beifong and her guard. They came from Zaofu earlier this morning."

"Well my apologies, I didn't know you were having such esteemed guests today." Sara said with a smirk on her face. The woman's red eyes shifted to look at Suyin, instantly making her feel a bout of unease.

Hell had been imprinted in those eyes looking back at her; framed by messy mid-length bangs that fell along the sides of the woman's face, they were set in a permanent glare. There was something dark about this woman and Suyin didn't like it. She had a special blood red color to her eyes that was rare even among fire benders; amber or gold being the more prominent.

Suyin continued to stare back, feeling as though the woman was seeing right through her; trying to unnerve her by making it seem as though she already knew all her deepest secrets. In her brooding eyes Suyin saw only darkness. Hers, were the eyes of death.

Thinking years back, Suyin remembered an old mentor who had once asked her if she'd ever seen evil in someone's eyes, to which she -as a teenager running with the Terra Triad replied, "Maybe."

Looking into this woman's eyes she realized she was dead wrong. Sara's eyes were home to the darkness. Their unnerving obscurity mystified and rattled the matriarch. But Suyin had to admit, her curiosity wondered...what had this woman gone through to gain a pair of eyes like that?

Breaking her gaze away from the mysterious woman, Suyin focused, remembering her reason for coming to see the Fire lord in person.

Although it wasn't her only reason, it was still important.

"A-Actually, I would like to speak with you in private." She said leaning in slightly towards the Fire lord.

Hearing Suyin stutter, all of Kuvira's attention went to her. A woman as sure of herself as Suyin never stuttered; if she did it was for a reason. Every word that ever came from Suyin's mouth more often than not sounded like a command. So something wasn't right.

Slowly Kuvira turned her head to the fire bender sitting beside the Fire Lord. With a furrowing brow she watched Sara smirk and recline into the red upholstered sofa garnished with gold wooden trimmings; the woman staring at Suyin the entire time.

Izumi looked up to Suyin from the paper she had picked up off the table. "Okay." She said, glancing to the woman beside her who paid her no attention. Feeling the awkward thickness of tension begin to seep into the room, Izumi spared a glance up to the guard behind Suyin, seeing her eyes narrow as they stared at Sara.

There was hatred in her eyes, pure hatred.

"Come on." Izumi stood up and broke her eyes from Kuvira, making her way to the double doors before Suyin.

Turning back halfway, The Fire Lord watched Suyin take the long way around the couch and stop in front of the guard, whispering words to her only she could hear. Intrigued by their subtle interactions with one another and a gaze that was more than just an eye-sweeping glance, Izumi's quiet observation turned into a stare, until Kuvira's eyes locked with her own. Shifting her gaze away like a caught eavesdropper, she looked over to Sara again who had also been watching the whole display.

Something really was different about Suyin's relationship with this guard, and awkwardly Izumi felt more like she was peering into the personal business between two lovers.

Suyin left Kuvira's side, letting her hand linger on the guard's shoulder before following Izumi out.

They silently made their way down the hall; the Fire lord walking in front of the matriarch with slowly measured regal steps as she clasped her hands behind her back. Izumi had definitely grown up from the rowdy kid she used to be, and so had Suyin…more or less.

"Are you that personable with all your guards?" Izumi asked as they came into an office.

Suyin didn't immediately answer as she glanced around the office with her back to the Fire lord. There were stacks of papers piled high on the wooden desk she remembered seeing Zuko sit at. Also decorated in fire nation colors of deep reds and golds, the room was a sight to behold in itself. "No just her." She answered, her words running out before she could think.

Realizing the mistake, Suyin's eyes darted around the room as she silently hoped the other woman hadn't picked up the hidden meaning behind them.

Izumi threw another questioning look Suyin's way before closing the door to her office. She moved past Suyin, over to the table where fresh tea had been placed. The servants knew she liked tea hourly, and would always put a fresh batch on the table where she did most of her work. For the Fire Lord, seeing and smelling fresh tea was just one of small comforts that always made her day better, bringing a smile to her face.

Picking up a cup she sat down, taking the first refreshing sip.

"Are you going to sit down?" She said slowly taking another sip as she watched Suyin exhale; her shoulders falling down with her head.

"I don't know if I can." Suyin said before letting out another breath.

_'I have to get this out.'_

_'I can trust her.'_

_'Just do it.'_

After her final thought pushed her, Suyin turned to face the Fire lord. "I have something I want to tell you."


	2. The Reveal

_Previously:_

_'Just do it.' After her thought, Suyin finally turned to face the Fire lord. "I have something I want to tell you."_

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**-The Reveal-**

The Fire lord watched with an inquisitive look as her best friend slowly paced around the room. She hadn't seen Suyin this worked up in years. "Well what is it?" She finally asked; adjusting her glasses as her head followed the pacing woman back and forth.

Suyin didn't answer, still lost in her debating thoughts.

"I just can't hold this in anymore." She whispered to herself before turning to see the Fire lord staring at her with a confused look.

"Ok, I'm going to tell you something that I probably shouldn't even bring up, but it's becoming too much to handle, and I ca-"

"You're rambling Suyin." The Fire lord said as she smiled looking down into her tea. "Just calm down, this secret can't be the end of the world. We've shared some pretty bad ones before." Izumi chuckled under her breath and set her eyes back on Suyin. "Sit down."

"Actually, this one might be the end of the world…" Suyin sat down in front of the Fire lord and added with her gaze fixated on the wooden table that was inches away from her knees. "…Well the end of my world at least."

"Now you're stalling." Izumi smiled as she brought the tea cup to her lips.

After a long exhale followed by silence, Suyin figured it was now or never; she just wanted to get this over with.

"Ok, I'll tell you -but don't yell at me about it." She said, pointing a finger at the Fire lord.

The Fire lord laughed again as she brought a hand up in mock defense. "OK, OK…I won't. But now I really want to know what this is all about." She took a sip of tea as she looked up at Suyin who was still silent.

It was clear that she was going to have to pull this out of the other woman. "What is it? Are you…having an affair?" The Fire lord asked trying to guess as well as she could, but seeing Suyin tense up answered her question.

Suyin hesitated for a minute, frozen in shock by how quickly Izumi was starting to figure it out. To the Fire Lord, it was just a wild guess. To Suyin, it was a little too good of a guess. The only response she gave was a nod as she played with her fingers out of nervous habit.

"Oh..." The Fire lord paused, letting the information sink in. "How long has it been going on?"

"Almost two years." Suyin looked down, dreading the fact that they were getting closer and closer to the real secret.

"TWO YEARS?" The Fire lord said disrupting the calm stillness to her tea out of shock at her best friend's revelation. "Well, it's kind of hard to call it an affair Suyin if it's been going on for two years."

"Almost, two years." Suyin softly corrected her, trying to regain some of her dignity.

"Suyin, the word years is enough." Izumi chuckled trying to lighten the mood. "I'd classify it as a relationship by now." Pausing, the Fire lord took another sip of the tea she had forgotten. "So…who is he?"

Suyin cleared her throat at that question…here it came, the big reveal.

After taking another deep breath she gathered her courage and spoke. "Well…she is currently in the other room." She cautiously locked her eyes on the Fire lord, gauging her reaction.

The Fire lord stared at the table in front of her as she very slowly lowered her cup, swallowing the mouthful of tea she hadn't realized she was holding. She knew it…the way Suyin interacted with that guard was too personal and definitely crossed the line between boss and employee. Finally, she mustered up the words to speak.

"What?" She said quietly. "You mean…the guard you came with?" Her eyes blinked a few times in disbelief and darted over the surface of the table, before landing back on Suyin with an eyebrow raised.

Years ago when they were younger, Izumi wouldn't have thought much into it at all. But now she couldn't understand why Suyin, with the weight of a city on her shoulders, would break her peaceful life to engage in a dangerous affair with a woman half her age.

"Yes…" Suyin answered, watching the Fire lord's face switch through a myriad of different expressions, in an attempt to grasp the disbelief and rationalize it.

"O.K." The Fire lord said slowly, as she opened and closed her jaw multiple times, trying to find her words. "It might have been a little different had you told me she was your long lost daughter or something…"

Suyin's face dropped, but the Fire Lord didn't notice.

The word "daughter" was like a stab in the chest to Suyin, and only increased the matriarch's unease as she turned her head, gazing over to Izumi's desk with a blank stare. 'Maybe this wasn't a good idea.' But her doubts were useless now; she had already come too far.

"But Lover…" Izumi closed her eyes tight, shaking her head from side to side as she struggled to find the right words to say. "…WHAT?" The Fire lord said raising her voice; now it had sunk in. "You're kidding me, right?" Izumi stood and paced just as Suyin had but out of disbelieving irritation, not from nerves.

"Sssh!" Suyin glanced to the door as she quieted the Fire lord and spoke with a harsh whisper. "We don't need the whole palace to hear you…and no, I'm not."

"Sorry, I just…WHAT?" Izumi finally looked at Suyin with shock still in her eyes. Then with a sigh she moved in front of her desk and stopped; drawing a hand over her eyes, resting it against her brow. "Oh Spirits Su, you're a married mother of 5."

"I know."

"Do you?" Taking her hand away, Izumi looked down at Suyin's defeated posture. She too had drawn a hand over her eyes, shading her shame as she rested her elbows onto her knees. "Do you really know what this could do to you?"

"I do."

"If this gets out it can ruin you, your reputation and everything you've worked for." Izumi paused and leaned against the desk's front edge. "Don't you remember how difficult it was to get Zaofu off of paper?"

"I do-"

"It took years."

A long pause left silence hanging in the air, and the Fire Lord dropped her head, contemplating her best friend's outcomes. Suyin on the other hand, did her damnedest not to think at all.

"If a scandal breaks, it will only take a matter of days before everything's crashing down on you."

Izumi didn't mean to sound cynical, but she was torn. Even if it wasn't her place to be, she still felt for her best friend. She was angered on her behalf, and she was frustrated on her behalf. For decades Izumi had seen Suyin through every hardship. She was there when Suyin was adjusting to the pressure of being a world leader. She stayed on the phone for hours letting Suyin vent her numerous stresses, even if she sometimes dozed off without the matriarch knowing. And she made sure to stop by throughout the terms of each one of Suyin's pregnancies...all four of them. The last she was barely present for after an assassination attempt left her banned from immediate travel. But still her support for Suyin remained consistent and loyal despite anything life threw at her.

That was all part of their close friendship.

However, in recent years, Suyin hadn't reached out as often as she used to. Izumi noticed the change, but didn't think much into it. Suyin's letters still came twice a month. But the long phone calls and occasional random visits from Zaofu had stopped. This was one of the first times Suyin had been back to the palace in a couple years.

Looking at the deep crimson carpeted floor, a thought crossed Izumi's mind. If everything Suyin had told her was true, maybe she had found a new source of consolation in the young guard.

Izumi looked up, facing Suyin's slumped form. "What are you doing with her?" She pushed off the desk and slowly walked back to the couches, retaking her seat across from Suyin with eyes that never strayed away from her friend. "Not in the literal sense of course." She tried her hand at lightening the mood…but this time it didn't work. Suyin was stuck in the same position, not saying a word. "Suyin?" Izumi asked in a softer tone with no immediate response.

The Fire Lord sat waiting patiently, allowing Suyin to have the time she needed to regain her will to speak. After a few seconds Suyin looked up at her; her face stricken with an odd set of emotions. She didn't look sad, or guilty for that matter, but resentfully annoyed with the overwhelming nature of it all.

"Su…" The Fire Lord tried again. "What is your goal with her?, What do you want from her?" She stopped, giving Suyin a lapse to think as the matriarch looked away. "I mean you certainly can't just abandon everything, and go running off into the sunset. You have too many people counting on you." Not paying attention to Suyin's furrowing brow Izumi continued. "You can't marry her. You can't have kids with her." She leaned slightly forward. "Don't you see, once this ends she's the one who will ultimately get hurt." Izumi paused and sighed. "When the tim-"

"I love her." Not wanting to be bombarded with anymore negativities, Suyin snapped like a teenager with angry eyes staring at her wide-eyed friend. Whatever she and Kuvira had, Suyin had grown faith in. Her zealous display of defense for their relationship was proof it had gone far beyond the fling it was originally intended to be. "I really do." She said in a softer tone dropping her head back down; her short lived anger fading away. "And I've invested a lot more time in her than I ever thought I would."

"I'm sure." Izumi offhandedly grumbled, thinking she couldn't be heard. But when the room fell to silence she looked up, facing her friend's furrowed brow and obvious irritation by the pun.

"Not now Izumi."

"Sorry." Izumi paused with a growing smile. "A bit distasteful wasn't it?"

"Yes." Suyin answered, staring at her friend for a minute before a small smile escaped from her too. She couldn't get mad at Izumi's humor; it was the same humor that always made her laugh.

Seeing Suyin's hostility had passed, Izumi carefully pressed on, keeping her voice even-tempered. "Not only is she a woman…but much younger than you." The Fire lord raised her eyebrows as she looked at Suyin. "How old is she? She doesn't look more than twenty-two." She watched Suyin look away then shifted her own gaze down. "I know I'm not being very supportive. But I care about you, and I don't want to see your life waste away because of this."

Izumi apologized. But still her disbelief was proving hard to reel in; she had been caught off guard with the whole revelation in the first place. Sure, Suyin had always been the risk-taker with a wild side in their friendship, while she was a lot more conservative; but this…she didn't expect. Not after so many years of watching her friend seemingly slow down and adopt a normal life. Izumi had read Suyin's jovial letters and listened to her long drawn out stresses over pregnancy and kids on the phone, way before the matriarch became the matriarch. Suyin was so happy, not to mention a bit mesmerized when her first son was born. So it troubled Izumi that a woman who loved her family so much was jeopardizing it for a younger woman who may have just been using her.

"I'm not trying to be judgmental. But I'm just beginning to wrap my mind around all this."

"Yeah, I understand." Suyin said meeting her friend's eyes before shifting hers down, as she dropped her head into her hands with a weary sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "Sometimes, I don't even know what I'm doing."

"This isn't some mid-life crisis is it?"

"No." Suyin said letting a short laugh escape as she looked back up. "But believe me, that's the scariest part."

Izumi gave her an odd look after her last statement, begging for her to explain.

"I really like her…and that hasn't been easy for me to deal with." Suyin said getting up to walk over to the window. It was a bit ironic to her, that Izumi seemed more bothered by the age difference than the fact that Kuvira was a woman. "My oldest son is closer to her age."

The Fire lord watched Suyin stare out the window as her disbelief started to die away, turning into concern. This was bigger than anything they had told one another before, and she knew her best friend needed her in these moments. Her personal feelings about the relationship didn't matter. In the end it was all on Suyin. What she chose to do would be hers to decide. "I didn't catch what her name was when you came in."

"It's Kuvira." Suyin replied, gazing almost transfixed out the window at the birds flying high up in the sky.

"So, what does Kuvira think about all this?" Izumi asked as she got up and walked over to Suyin.

"I don't really know…we never talk about it."

The Fire Lord turned to watch as the evening sun profiled Suyin's face. "So in other words, your relationship with her is very…in the moment."

"I guess you could say that." Suyin said, watching the setting sun begin to gradually disappear behind the palace walls. 'Yeah, in the moment, that's a good way to describe it'.

She and Kuvira never talked about the future…for fear it wouldn't come. Making empty promises they couldn't keep would only hurt more in the end.

Kuvira was a thriving young adult in the prime of her life with so many years ahead of her. Suyin, had already seen that time of her life come and go. She patiently waited for the day Kuvira would move on and find someone else. The relationship between them existed only on borrowed time. "How long will this last?" She asked herself the inevitable question, not meaning to be heard, but the Fire lord caught it.

"That's something you should ask her." Izumi said in a softened tone. "Although, not quite like that." She smiled.

"Why not?" Suyin turned to her, and any doubt the Fire Lord had regarding the credibility of this new relationship, was lost when she looked into Suyin's eyes. Now Izumi could see how deeply the matriarch had fallen for the guard; it was written all over her face.

"Well, for one, it sounds a little hopeless...and depressing." Izumi smiled at Suyin. "You are FAR from either of those."

"I know." Suyin briefly looked down with a small smile. Her best friend was right, she was a strong person, not one to cripple under negativity.

Izumi moved a step closer to Suyin, watching the matriarch look back up in her advance.

The Fire Lord's face had turned serious, a switch from the smiles and smirks moments before. In her eyes, Suyin saw a reassuring support.

"If there really is love in this relationship..." Izumi started soft, putting a hand on Suyin's upper arm, as she kept her words within their couple feet of distance. "Then there's a future." She paused. "That's what you should be asking about. You'll never know if you don't." The Fire Lord's gentle smile returned. "And I certainly can't tell you what her intentions are."

Growing up with Suyin, Izumi had watched as her friend's relationships changed over the years. She remembered first meeting Bataar as a young architect. The love between him and Suyin seemed to do nothing but grow. But now, Suyin was going against her own morals of loyalty for a guard she had never heard of. What was it about Kuvira that made Suyin willing to risk everything she had worked for? It had to be something pretty damn good to break a woman as stubborn as Suyin from her established path in life.

A sudden knock at the door tore both women away from their thoughts.

"You may enter." The Fire lord said as she moved to the middle of the room looking towards the door.

"Fire lord," The man bowed as he opened the door; never once looking up to meet her gaze. "You should probably come back to inner chamber. Sara and the other guard are not getting along."

The two women shared a look of confusion, and before the Fire lord could dismiss the man Suyin was already heading out the door with Izumi trailing behind her.

The servant stood alone by the door, having not been dismissed.

Turning back half-way down the hall, the Fire lord held up a hand "Oh, you're dismissed." She said with a wave as the servant bowed once more before walking away from the office door.

"What do you think he meant by "not getting along"?" Suyin said.

"I don't know. But he didn't seem agitated, so maybe it's nothing." The Fire lord said trying to ease the worry on Suyin's face as they got closer to the inner chamber.

"Or maybe he's just weird." Suyin lifted an eyebrow at the Fire lord and shrugged, moving in front of Izumi.

"Making fun of my "palace people" again?" A smile stretched across the Fire lord's face, thinking about the teasing light-hearted jokes Suyin used to make regarding the uptight royal customs.

"Maybe."

Upon approaching the doors the Fire lord stopped, Suyin doing the same.

They didn't hear any yelling or crashing of objects, just silence. A heavy wave of anxiety passed through Suyin as her heart rate increased, preparing her for the sight she would find on the opposite side of the door.

Gripping the handle, the Fire lord looked at Suyin with uncertainty before squeezing the latch and pushing it open.


	3. The Reunion

_Previously:_

_Gripping the handle, the Fire lord looked at Suyin with uncertainty before squeezing the latch and pushing it open_  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**-The Reunion-**

"Not getting along" was an understatement to say the least, as both women's eyes were drawn to the scene before them.

"You Bitch." Kuvira slammed the other woman against the wall with an unforgiving amount of force, her forearm pressed against Sara's throat. The woman still tried to smile, even as her lungs were constricting against the lack of air.

Digesting the scene before her, Suyin's eyes widened as she noticed the blood covering Kuvira's nose and the knuckles of her hand, the older woman in a similar state.

"I remember this…" Kuvira said, bending the long blade from its sheath on the table into her free hand. "I might have been a kid but, I wasn't as stupid as you thought." Sara silently looked down into the guards eyes, listening to her speak. "I know you've taken countless lives…and you should've burned with them a long time ago," Kuvira growled, every word coming out of her mouth as though she'd spit them on the ground. A murderous fire overtook her eyes as Kuvira set the blade’s tip directly under the woman's rib cage, pressing it in enough to leave a pierce in Sara’s uniform. "The only person you really should've killed, was yourself. But now I get the pleasure of doing it for you."

Suyin gasped as she heard Kuvira's last words. The person she knew wasn't present in that moment. Kuvira's face had changed, deadpanning into a void without emotion, her eyes going as cold as a murderer's. Someone else was in control now, someone Suyin didn't recognize.

Kuvira lunged, and in a well timed move Suyin took control of the blade, holding it back from stabbing into the woman as Kuvira seemingly wanted.

"STOP IT." Suyin yelled, wrenching the blade from Kuvira's grasp with her metal bending and into her own hand. She looked down at it for a moment, feeling only the sword's handle in her bending's control.

_'The blade is platinum.'_ Suyin thought before dropping it to the floor, realizing she had only gotten lucky in being able to take the blade from Kuvira. If the entirety of the sword had been platinum, Kuvira would have murdered someone, with her being a witness to it all.

As Suyin looked up the guard's head rapidly turned towards her, her green eyes almost looking black in their menacing glare. Kuvira had never looked at her like that, and for a moment she was actually scared; not of Kuvira, but of whomever this was.

Ignoring the order, Kuvira turned back to Sara, tightening her arm's hold. Pushing into the fire bender's throat with no remorse, she lifted the woman from her feet, watching in heartless content as the veins in Sara's neck and forehead started to pop out.

"KUVIRA, STOP IT." Suyin walked over, forcefully yanking the guard's face towards her, taken aback at the sight of Kuvira's crooked nose. "Stop it." She repeated in a softer but commanding tone, trying to bring her Kuvira back.

Kuvira's jaw clenched as she turned to the other woman, giving her one last forceful push against the wall before letting her go. With heavy footsteps she stormed past Suyin and out of the room.

After watching Kuvira leave, Suyin turned to the panting woman now sitting on the floor, laughing as she wiped the blood from her own face. The laughter only served to ignite Suyin's anger more as she stepped closer to the woman, hovering over her with narrowed eyes. "Did you hit her?" The answer to that question was obvious, but she wanted to hear it from the woman's mouth.

"You've sure got her well-trained; broken like a caged animal." The woman below her held a tone of amusement with a trace of disgust in her voice. "And to be fair…she hit me first. I just defended myself." Sara said, closing her eyes. And as she leaned her head against the wall, her mouth pulled up into the same evil smile Suyin had seen earlier.

"Kuvira is not an animal." Suyin said as the woman scoffed. "I know you provoked her. She would never randomly attack someone like that."

Sara opened her eyes to look up at Suyin. "Maybe, you don't know her as well as you think you do."

Suyin slowly moved closer until her foot rested beside the other woman's hand. "Just who the hell are you?" She said, her voice slipping into a dangerous tone.

"Well you already got my name," Sara said, getting up off the floor as she dusted herself off before looking Suyin directly in the eye; a foot of distance between their faces. "But if you're asking what my affiliation is to your guard…you might want to ask her. I wouldn't wanna give away private family details now." She grinned.

'Family?' Suyin stepped closer, getting a good look at the woman's face for the first time. Amidst the blood, in hardened lines present on her face, Suyin could see Kuvira's eyes, her nose, and her mouth set in that same stern expression she knew all too well.

"Are you going to stare at me forever?" Sara smirked, "I must be more attractive than I thought." Her words fell on deaf ears as the Matriarch tried to make sense of her thoughts.

_'Maybe she's her sister; NO…she's at least Lin's age.'_ Suyin's eyes traipsed down to a now half hidden slash-like scar sticking out from under Sara's loosened collar.

Her eyes widened and darted to the ground as her mind recollected upon the memory of an old conversation she'd had with Kuvira years ago.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_"Do you remember anything about your mother?"_

_"Not really…Guess I was too young..." Kuvira lied._

_"Nothing..."_

_"She had a scar on her neck, maybe 3 inches long…but no, nothing important."_

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suyin stepped back, still looking at Sara's neck.

The fire bender caught her gaze and lifted her hand to push back the right side of her collar. "You lookin' at that?" Suyin's eyes snapped to hers, silently waiting for an explanation with a passive expression on her face.

"A long time ago someone tried to kill me." Sara shifted her eyes away; a small almost saddened smile befalling on her face. But her grief –if it even was grief- was short lived as she looked back up to Suyin with a smirk. "Too bad they didn't cut deep enough."

Suyin looked back to the scar. This wasn't right.

She couldn't be…standing in front of a woman supposedly dead.

"Well?"

Ignoring Sara, Suyin spared a quick glance over to Izumi who had dropped her gaze to the floor.

Staying quiet a second longer, she turned back to the malicious Fire bender and asked "Are you her mother?"

Sara looked at Suyin and smirked, "I haven't been called that in a long time, but technically…sure, you could say that." Her voice carried little concern as she watched Suyin walk over to the sitting area.

Sara's eyes squinted, following Suyin's every step.

There was an edge to Suyin; something that just felt off about her, and that's what intrigued Sara the most. But for now, she decided to leave it alone.

Taking a seat, the matriarch slumped a little, resting her elbows on her knees as she stared over to the doorway through which Kuvira had left.

"You never told me you had a daughter." Listening to the Fire Lord speak, Sara's face grew serious.

"There were reasons for that."

"Kuvira told me her parents died a long time ago." Suyin said, as her eyes shifted down to the glossed wooden table in front of her. Here was the person who had given birth to the woman she loved, and she had to be only about four or five years older than herself. That thought alone was enough to put Suyin in a very awkward place.

"Hmm…" Sara looked over to the door. "Well I guess I can't blame her for not wanting any attachment to me." She said with a grim smile.

"Neither can I." Suyin shot back, looking up at Sara with a furrowed brow as her maternal instincts began to kick in. "You're not supposed to hit your own kids."

From afar the Fire Lord watched Sara's eyes narrow as she stared out the doorway. In her mind, Izumi desperately begged for Suyin not to push the woman too far, she knew what Sara was capable of. However, she also knew what Suyin was capable of, and hoped the two wouldn't come to killing each other.

Sara turned away from the door and walked over to Suyin with slow steps. "Do you have kids?" She looked down at the matriarch sitting on the couch, who readied herself for any attack the woman might pull.

Looking cautiously at Sara as the woman stopped on the other side of the table, Suyin thought about her answer before she spoke. "Yes." There wasn't any point in lying. Suyin had a feeling that Sara wasn't the type to rely on the spoken word alone for truth. She was the type to use the eyes of the victim - who was unlucky enough to be questioned by her- to give her the most reliable answer.

Sara's mouth stretched into a crooked grin, but that cold dead look of indifference never left her eyes. "Then you can just call that tough love."

"You _BROKE_ her nose." Suyin said, trying to maintain her rising anger. 'How is this woman able to justify the words coming out of her mouth?' She thought, shifting her eyes down.

But, it was what the fire bender said next that threw Suyin over the edge.

"It'll heal." Sara said with a nonchalant shrug.

At this, Suyin stood up and swiftly walked over to the woman. Grabbing her by the shirt, she rammed Sara up against the same wall Kuvira had just moments before. The blood rushing through her veins almost burned. Her heart began to pump with adrenaline as she stared into those bright red eyes challenging her to make the next move.

That's probably exactly what the woman wanted, to see how far she could push her. The more they stood eye to eye, the longer a smile stretched across Sara's face.

This woman was not only a monster of a person, but a monster of a parent as well. Violence, fighting, and no doubt killing…was all just a game to her.

"Suyin." The Fire Lord's soft voice cut in, assuaging the matriarch from her actions with a knowing look. Now that she knew about Suyin's relationship with Kuvira, she was able to understand the reasons behind her friend's anger. Although, the extent to which Suyin was willing to go to protect and defend Kuvira still surprised her. 'This guard must be special' she thought as her eyes glanced at Sara, her own former guard.

Seeing how absent as mother Sara was to Kuvira made the Fire Lord wonder, Was Kuvira searching for a mother in Suyin, only to find a lover instead?

Suyin closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she let go of the other woman. There was silence as Sara watched Suyin turn and walk away towards the door.

"You care an awful lot about her for her just being one of your guards." Sara said, her words stopping the matriarch half way to the door.

The Fire Lord watched as her friend looked down to the ground with narrowed eyes before turning her head to speak over her shoulder. "And you, care nothing about her…you might as well have been dead…I don't even want to know what she went through with you as a parent."

The roles reversed as Sara stormed over to Suyin with a rapid pace, grabbing the matriarch as her other hand was set ablaze by fire. "DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE I DON'T KNOW MY OWN CHILD." Sara gripped the fabric of Suyin's collar tighter as her eyes grew wide with rage. "What are you to her anyways?"

Her deep voice sent chills through Suyin, but she didn't give in to show her unease, even as Sara's thumb started to push into her throat. Instead, she stared back into her eyes, but this time there was something different about them. Suyin smirked, so…she had hit a nerve. Maybe this woman did care about Kuvira a lot more than she was letting on. But why was she doing so much to suppress that?

The Fire Lord watched as the tension between the two grew, unsure of what actions to take. But she knew Sara wouldn't kill Suyin, at least...not in her presence.

"You don't know her." Suyin said, using a hand to shove the woman away from her before leaving the room.

"Wh-" Sara's eyes glowed with fury as she lunged towards the doorway only to be held back by a hand gripping her forearm.

"Sara." The Fire Lord looked at her sternly. "Let it go."

Sara turned to look at the Fire Lord with hate in her eyes. She was just as much of a trained guard dog as Kuvira, except her handler was the Fire Lord.

"Who does she think she is?"

"Calm down," The Fire Lord said letting her go. "She's a lot more important to Kuvira than you know. Hurting her would only make things worse."

"I don't give a shit how important she is." Sara turned back towards the doorway; she wasn't about to relent.

Just as Sara lifted her foot to take off in Suyin's direction, painful voltage swept through her body and she fell to the ground stiff, recovering slowly as the tingling and numbing sensations started to fade away. She could hear her heart in ears, feel it skip, and see the slight tremble of her hands.

Izumi was the only one who could get away with doing that to Sara without being killed. But she was also the only one who knew that Sara couldn't lightning bend; a skill taught to the highest of palace guards. And as Izumi's right hand, Sara held seniority over every palace guard, even the commander. So she substituted her inadequacy with lightning bending with her powerful skills in close quarters combat. As odd as it may have been for a fire bender to be so attached to a piece of metal, her sword was linked to her as close as her arm. It acted as an extension of herself, and was just as lethal.

"Leave her alone." Izumi stared down, watching Sara look back at her from her hands and knees with angered confusion overtaking face.

Sluggishly Sara regained her balance on her feet, almost standing as proud as she had been just moments before.

She stood in silence wiping away stray blood that had run down from her nose as she waited for the blurry vision in one eye to clear up.

The Fire Lord moved to Sara's side. "Sorry. You know I care about you, but you can't take your anger out on Suyin." She stopped in front of her on her way to the door, and looked back to the impassive expression on Sara's face that stared right past her. "That will do nothing but cause more problems."

With no more words said, Izumi turned to the door and left to find Suyin.

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Walking down the hallway, the Fire Lord spotted Suyin standing with her back against the wall and her arms crossed in front of her. She still had the angry look on her face as Izumi approached her, thinking of a way to defuse the situation.

"Well that escalated quickly." The Fire Lord said looking at Suyin, only to be met with silence as the other woman stared straight ahead. Izumi sighed, moving to lean against the wall next to Suyin. She could only imagine the battle of conflicting thoughts running through her friend's mind in the present moment.

"Tell me something…" Suyin started, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"Why do you keep someone like that around you?"

"I assume you mean Sara."

Suyin's head snapped to Izumi's direction as she immediately and angrily dived in. "She's rude, she's disrespectful to you, and she doesn't seem very trustworthy."

"A little hypocritical aren't you…" The Fire lord said with a smile. "I could ask you the same thing."

Suyin stayed quiet before it dawned on her who the Fire Lord was referring to. "Kuvira isn't some malicious killer."

"Of course not to you, you're the one sleeping with her." The Fire lord looked over to the appalled look on Suyin's face and sighed. "Ok, Sorry." She looked back down in the split moment of silence between them. "Regardless Suyin, that little display certainly doesn't convince me otherwise." The Fire Lord lifted her back from the wall, and turned to Suyin. "She might be more like her than you think."

"Something isn't right about that woman Izumi."

"I know." Izumi moved in front of Suyin, turning her back to the matriarch. "Sara has been through a lot…more than you can imagine, and more than I can believe. But she's been with me for decades...almost as long as you." She turned around to face Suyin, connecting their gazes. "I never told you about her, but I trust her with my life…just as I'm sure you trust Kuvira with yours." She watched Suyin look away. "She may not be a "nice" person, but she gets things done efficiently…and quietly."

Suyin shifted her attention back to Izumi with a puzzled face.

"You should know well enough that running a nation is hard work." Izumi paused, thinking of how to best answer Suyin's confusion. "Not everything can be done through orthodox methods. Sometimes circumstances force us to take other measures. That's where she comes in."

"So you have an assassin working right next to you? How dangerous is that?"

Izumi locked her jaw a moment before she spoke. "Sara may be a lot of things, but I still trust her-"

"You might be rethinking that trust the day she decides to turn on you, and murder you in your sleep."

"Suyin please…" Izumi sighed and looked away in annoyance. "That won't happen. Besides…" She looked back to Suyin. "You should know better than anyone about taking in delinquents."

"Yeah, I do…but they're not still criminally active."

"You don't know that for sure."

"Actually I do…" Suyin paused and glanced down. "My truth seer does."

"And he can turn and lie to you at any moment."

That reality halted Suyin's protesting. "I've...thought about that before."

Walking over to the matriarch, the Fire Lord set a warm hand on her shoulder. "Suyin, I've known Sara for years, and I'm still not dead…even if that might be considered luck." She chuckled to lighten the mood. "Don't worry about me."

The tense moment was broken as Suyin looked up to Izumi, and moments later nodded in acquiescence.

"Do you have something I can clean her up with?"

Suyin's sudden turn of subject left the Fire Lord staring for a second in bewilderment. "What? Oh, yeah…let me see." Izumi let go of Suyin and made a move to start walking, but stopped mid step and set her foot back on the ground, keeping her eyes down the entire time. "How do you know she's a killer?" she asked softly, leaving Suyin with her thoughts before the matriarch could answer, and disappearing into a room down the end of the red-carpeted hallway.

Suyin didn't think on the question long. She tilted her head back to the wall, starting to feel more drained as the whole ordeal went on. This was certainly not how she had expected this day to go. First, she confesses her love for a twenty-one year old to the Fire Lord. And now, after a very tumultuous meeting of Kuvira's mother -who she previously thought was dead- her mind was starting to shut down; this was just too much in one day.

She closed her eyes, breathing in slowly. After they got back to Zaofu, she could rest.

"Here."

Suyin hastily opened her eyes, startled by the Fire Lord's voice. Looking down at Izumi's hands she saw a couple of towels and a bowl of water.

"Yeah, that should be good enough." Suyin pushed herself off the wall before taking the items into one of her hands. She looked back up at Izumi and smiled. "Thanks."

The Fire Lord nodded silently accepting the gratitude. "I think she headed out to the courtyard." Izumi said, putting a hand on Suyin's upper arm. The matriarch noticed her friend's face change to a look of understanding as she smiled.

"Oh, do you have a healer? She's going to need one after I set her nose…" Suyin said, jarring them from the moment as the Fire Lord gave her an odd look of disbelief. "Yes, I'm going to attempt it…" She pointed a finger at Izumi. "So don't even look at me like that."

Izumi sighed as she closed her eyes raising her eyebrows. "Well, you are probably the best to do it anyway…" She opened her eyes giving Suyin a suggestive look. "…Since, you know her so well."

Getting the message, Suyin smiled pushing the Fire lord's shoulder with her free hand, giving her a fake glare as Izumi started to laugh; they still acted like teenagers sometimes.

Izumi looked down briefly, controlling her laughter as she pushed her glasses back into place. "Sure, I'll find a healer…might need it after you break her nose again."

Suyin smiled again.

Since their childhood she had never been able to stay angry – or serious for that matter – with Izumi around; and that was one of the greatest things about her best friend. Izumi never said much, and it took her time to warm-up to people. But once she did, a different side of her showed, and out from the shy girl came a mischievous teaser.

Shaking her head at the Fire lord, she turned to walk in the direction of the courtyard before she stopped and looked back at Izumi. "Her eyes…they don't seem right." Suyin answered the question Izumi never gave her a chance to respond to before she left to find Kuvira.

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The hot wind blew in her face as Suyin let her eyes search for Kuvira, but the guard was nowhere to be found. Letting her eyes graze the ground, she caught small drops of blood stained to the smooth grey pavement. Following the trail, she made her way through one of the gardens before spotting the guard sitting hunched over on a ledge under a tree, with a hand resting over her eyes.

Suyin stopped, looking at Kuvira as she let out the breath she had been holding; it wasn't easy for her to see Kuvira this distressed.

Resuming her walk, she sighed as she inched closer to the guard.

"Hey." was the only thing Suyin said alerting the guard of her presence, as she slowly ran her hand up to Kuvira's shoulder; feeling her tense through the exposed fabric between the metal plates of the uniform.

Kuvira's head turned in Suyin's direction; her hand still shading her eyes.

As Suyin looked at Kuvira's face she saw the extent of the damage to the guard's nose for the first time. The blood had started to dry as her nose began to bruise colors of red and blue. Sighing, Suyin put the towels down on the ledge next Kuvira before making her way in front of the guard. She removed Kuvira's hand with gentle fingers as she lifted her head. 'Oh spirits...this is going to be painful'.

Suyin swallowed as her eyes set upon Kuvira's crooked nose. "I won't lie, this is going to hurt." She said taking the guard's face into her hands as their eyes connected. Letting out a shaky breath, she placed her hands on either side of Kuvira's nose. "OK."

"Why are you nervous?" Kuvira asked raising an eyebrow as a reassuring smile came across her face.

"Oh, maybe because I know this is going to hurt you." She looked into the guards eyes before focusing back to Kuvira's nose. "And…I have one shot to get this right."

"What?" Kuvira lightly grabbed one of Suyin's hands as she looked at the woman with widened eyes.

"Yeah if I mess up, your nose will be crooked forever, so let me focus." Suyin smiled and looked back at the nose before her as the guard put her hand down. "I've broken my nose before." She said, her eyes briefly meeting Kuvira's again.

"How?" The guard smiled bringing her thumb up to flick Suyin's nose; laughing softly at the other woman's reaction.

"Stop it, you better let me focus. Or else you're going to end up with a messed up nose." She grinned, stealing one last look at Kuvira before trying to concentrate.

"Well, how did it happen?" Kuvira asked again with more curiosity.

Deciding it was best to distract her from the impending pain, Suyin started her story while carefully lining up her fingers.

"Lin and I were sparring…And, being the idiot competitive kids we were…"

'Here goes nothing' Suyin gripped Kuvira's nose, swiftly moving it to the center.

The guard cried out in pain as she doubled over, covering her nose with her hands as fresh blood seeped out between her fingers. Suyin put a hand on the back of the guard's neck, caressing the soft skin as she listened to Kuvira take deep breaths. "Sorry about that."

Grabbing one of the damp towels, Suyin removed Kuvira's hands, replacing them with the towel as she pushed her back up. Tilting Kuvira's head back, she could see the guard's eyes watering from the pain. "...We got mad at each other and Lin threw a rock at my face." Suyin said, holding the towel to the guard's nose as she waited for the bleeding to stop. "And that's how my nose was broken."

After blinking a few times, Kuvira looked down at Suyin, still feeling the throbbing pain. "That was cruel."

Suyin laughed. "Actually that was merciful…would you have rather I dragged it out with counting or something?" She said as a smug look graced her features. "Plus, I know from experience that it's better to get the painful part out of the way when you're distracted." She smiled, still holding Kuvira's nose as she placed the other towel into the guard's bloodied hands. "Here, clean off your hands."

After a few minutes of silence, Suyin removed the towel. The bleeding had stopped but the bruising was still there. 'The healer should be able to clear that up. At least her nose is starting to look normal again.' Suyin thought, as she gently cleaned off the remaining blood.

"I love you, you know that right?"

Suyin froze. "…I think that's good enough…until the healer takes a look at you." Placing a hand on Kuvira's thigh, she looked down, trying to get lost in the soft feel of the guard's uniform.

She loved her too, but saying it felt like a lie.

When the day came for them to separate, she didn't want to hear Kuvira say that she used her and never loved her to begin with. Tears began to burn behind her eyes at that thought. Why couldn't she have met Kuvira in a different time and reality where she was younger; without the responsibilities of motherhood and running a city working against them?

She wanted to love Kuvira in a place where society wouldn't look down on them. But knowing she couldn't change the circumstances of time, she was grateful to even be standing in front of the guard now.

Kuvira looked at Suyin's saddened face. She had an idea about what made Suyin always hesitate every time she told her she loved her. A trace of guilt came over her as she took Suyin's face into her hands, and pulled her closer. She wanted to kiss her, but knew she couldn't; it wouldn't have been a wise move considering where they were.

Resting her chin on the top of Suyin's head, she slowly closed her eyes, feeling the wind blow across her face. She never would have thought that what started out as a teenage crush, would years later be reciprocated in a love affair. Now they were in too deep to let each other go, and Kuvira knew that was harder for the other woman to deal with.

A throat cleared to the side of the couple.

Realizing they had been caught, both froze with widened eyes. And as Suyin broke from her grasp, Kuvira turned her head to see the Fire Lord standing with her hands behind her back.

Izumi stared at Kuvira. Now she could see Sara in her face…that's why she looked so familiar to her before.

The guard looked at the Fire Lord for a few more moments before she turned her head in the other direction, gazing out at nothing as she listened to Suyin speak.

"Oh, it's just you." The matriarch mentally breathed a sigh of relief as she put her hand on the ledge next to Kuvira, stepping in between the guard and the Fire Lord.

"Yeah, just me." Izumi said, giving a small laugh and a joking smile.

Suyin heard the light shift of fabric as she turned her head to see Kuvira's confused eyes darting back and forth between them, before they finally connected with her own. Looking into Kuvira's eyes, she saw the silent questions beginning to swarm through the guard's mind.

Suyin lifted her hand, placing it on Kuvira's forearm. "Don't be mad at me, but…I told her about us."


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. (Shamefully hides face) SO, it’s definitely been a long time since I last touched this story. I’m not as close to this one as I was when I first wrote it, but hopefully I can still do it some justice. Lol. Have fun reading ;)**

**An Unexpected Reunion- Part 4**

_Suyin lifted her hand, placing it on Kuvira’s forearm. “Don’t be mad at me, but…I told her about us.”_

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“You what?” Kuvira asked staring wide-eyed at Suyin with a raised eyebrow, watching the matriarch nod.

“I did.”

Breaking her eyes away from Suyin, Kuvira looked over to the Fire Lord, who also nodded in response, barely maintaining her breaking smile. With a sigh Kuvira looked down, giving up the idea of even being angry. Her anger would have no merit. She was just glad the Fire Lord seemed not to care. Her eyes lingered, staring into the ground for a long while, as if briefly depriving Suyin of her gaze was the matriarch’s “punishment”.

“Did you need something?” Suyin turned her attention to Izumi as she dragged a hand through her hair; her body slowly repressing the shock of being caught with waves of relief. The threat of getting caught had been all too real, reminding Suyin that they were lucky it had only been Izumi.

Anyone else, and their lives would have been ruined.

“Well, I didn’t come all the way out here to watch you two make out, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Izumi grinned at Suyin, laughing softly under her breath at the matriarch’s narrowing eyes. In the moment of her amusement, she spared a glance to Kuvira’s awkward shift on the ledge her legs dangled over, where she sat with a slight hunch to her form, facing away from the Fire Lord.

She was so much like Sara, but then…she also wasn’t. _‘I can’t believe Sara never said anything about her.’_ Izumi thought. _‘…I wonder why.’_

“Very funny…” Suyin could feel the discomfort emanating off the guard over her shoulder. Hearing Kuvira shift behind her, she looked down at her feet, taking a second to collect herself before she lifted her head back up to speak. But she caught the Fire Lord focused past her, staring at the guard with curious eyes. “What is it?” Suyin pushed, intending to break the regal woman’s gaze of wonderment at Kuvira.

“Wha- oh uh…” The Fire lord raised her arm briefly, adjusting her glasses and clearing her throat. It was a nervous habit Suyin recognized well. Izumi used to do it all the time when they were younger. But now as an adult, with so many years passed, the nerdy shy girl Izumi used to be was hidden well within the powerful ruler who presently stood before her, dressed in royal robes.

Clasping her hands behind her back once more, the Fire Lord spoke. “ _So_ , you’ll never guess who’s stopping by just to heal _your_ guard.”

“Better not be a fire bender.” Kuvira glared at the stone palace walls in the distance around the perimeter.

Suyin shoved the guard’s thigh with her hand “Kuvira.” Her voice dropped into a warning tone.

“No offense.” Kuvira added in an obedient drone without looking over to the Fire lord.

Time couldn’t have been going more slowly in the day they had left. But to her relief the sun was beginning to set.

The Fire Lord raised her hands. “No no, none taken. I get it. I can understand why you aren’t exactly _fire bender_ friendly at the moment.” Izumi said, dropping her eyes down to Suyin’s hand that unconsciously rubbed up and down the guard’s thigh.

Watching a smile stretch across Izumi’s face, Suyin looked down following her gaze, catching a glance at her own hand moving along Kuvira’s thigh. Immediately she ceased its motion and cleared her throat, embarrassed by her unconscious act. “So…” She patted Kuvira’s thigh and moved closer to Izumi, leaving the guard behind. “Who is it?” She looked up meeting the Fire lord’s eyes.

“Kya.”

Suyin raised an eyebrow. “What? I thought she was still roaming around trying to live her bohemian lifestyle.” She looked down and drifted back to Kuvira with a smile on her face. “Why she lives like that, I have no idea.’’ Suyin glanced up at Kuvira, then back over to Izumi. “What is she doing in the fire nation anyways? The last time I saw her was at that conference we had in the Northern Water Tribe.”

“Me too. Until she stopped by about a month ago.”

“What for?”

“Nothing particular. She told me she just wanted to catch up and settle down for a while. Then she offered to help out at the hospital.” Izumi shrugged. “So I sent her there.”

“Settle down huh?” Suyin smirked, moving back in front of the guard. She pulled Kuvira’s face to her, glancing up into the guard’s eyes then down again as a smile stretched across her face. “I figured all that aimless traveling would tire her out eventually.”

Watching Suyin interact with Kuvira, the Fire Lord smiled a gentle smile. If she kept her gaze fixed long enough, she could see the matriarch morph into the younger woman she was over twenty years ago; when her hair was still dark and her actions prone to free-spirited spontaneity, with an occasionally dangerous lack of thought.  “Well, I seem to recall _somebody_ else having a life very similar to that.”

A grin broke out from Suyin’s passive smile as she shifted her eyes in the direction of Izumi’s voice, and brought her hands down, resting one on Kuvira’s knee. “I was barely in my 20’s. I could afford to do that then.” Her thumb kneaded focused circular motions into the side of the guard’s inner thigh. “It’d be hard for me to live a life like that now.” Her smile faded.

That was right. Suyin was a leader with duties to fulfill, and a mother with a family to take care of. There was no running off into sunsets; no travelling halfway around the world to start a new life, all the while escaping fates already foreseen.

Suyin could feel the guard’s eyes on her face, watching her grin diminish back into a tame smile. Looking up, she spotted Kuvira staring at her, just as she had expected; that same reassuring comfort and concern coming from the eyes she gazed into. But this time there was also something else…a hint of disappointment.

Taking Kuvira’s face into her hands, Suyin lightly touched her bruised nose with a finger, watching the guard wince in response. “So how long before she gets here? I don’t want this getting worse Izumi.”

“Well I called her, and surprisingly she picked up.” The Fire Lord glanced down and moved forward a few paces; staying back a good distance to give the couple their space, knowing both were still on edge. “I briefly told her things – _no_ not those things.” Izumi quickly added after witnessing the uncertain eye glances between Suyin and Kuvira; Suyin’s eyes being the wider of the two, as she fully understood the detriments of Kya latching onto their secret.

Kya was the type who could never hold a secret down for long. If she ever found out about their relationship, they were as good as done.

“Anyways, she’s still close by so, maybe an hour or two, I’ll let you know.”

“Good.” Suyin felt a second wave of relief pass over her as she watched Kuvira’s gaze drift past her head, focusing out towards one of the ancient Bonsai trees in the garden. “How is..uh..you know…the other-”

“Sara?”

Suyin moved her hand down to the base of Kuvira’s jaw feeling it clench under finger tips. “…Yeah.”

“She’s fine.” Izumi saw Kuvira’s eyes slowly narrow into a glare, as Suyin did her best to control the guard’s rising anger with the tenderness of her touches.

“You didn’t manage to break her nose.” Izumi spoke up, directing her words to the guard.

Kuvira scoffed. “That’s too bad.”

“Kuvira.” Suyin flicked her in the side of the face, earning her a pair of now angry dark green eyes staring back into hers, as the guard rubbed the side of her face like a scolded child.

“Her nose has probably been broken so many times she’s used to it by now.” Izumi looked down, taking her eyes away from Kuvira. She didn’t want to see Sara hurt, just as she suspected Suyin wouldn’t have wanted to see the same happen to Kuvira.

But something in her knew Sara deserved it.

You can only provoke someone or something so much before they finally give in and strike. And between the two of them, Kuvira was the one who seemed to have her head screwed on the best. Kuvira spent years adapting herself to the affluent lifestyle Suyin had built for her; few signs of her street mannerisms remained. By now she could even pass as high society, albeit with a gruff edge to her character, something that made her truly unique. Sara, on the other hand, was a loose cannon; and she knew it, but never cared. A fiery, easily sparked person she was, and had always been. Hoping for Sara to change or even tone down her dangerous attitude, was nothing but a lost cause. And after years of dealing with her cold lack of concern, Izumi had learned to accept her, as difficult as she was.

For all of the taunts and provoking jabs Sara no doubt threw at Kuvira while her and Suyin were absent, Izumi wholeheartedly understood Kuvira’s actions. And knowing Sara’s loathe for earth benders, it was probably something she said about Suyin that earned her a backbreaking slam against the wall, and a fist to her nose.

However, in the big picture her and Kuvira were still mother and daughter, and more alike than either wanted to admit.

The Fire Lord sighed. “Anyways, as I said, I’ll let you know.” She turned around giving a nonchalant wave, before stopping to smirk over her shoulder. “Oh, and I took the liberty of removing any prying eyes from the area…so, you can kiss her if you want.” Izumi paused, not done having her fun. “But I know you Suyin…and I’d _advise_ against going any further.” She softly laughed under her breath. Walking to a nearby curved wooden bridge hiding a small narrow creek running beneath it, Izumi soon disappeared behind the one of the walls that secluded the garden, as she headed back towards the palace.

Letting her eyes draw into a playful glare, Suyin bit her lower lip before turning back to Kuvira’s widened eyes with a smile. “Don’t worry about her, she’s always been brazen like that.” With a gentle caress she ran the backs of her fingers down the guard’s cheek to the base of her jaw, getting lost in nostalgic thoughts of the past. “When we were younger, she’d tease me all the time.” She paused with a grin. “Of course I was the one who always had the last laugh.”

“Why did you tell her?” Kuvira didn’t waste any time getting to the point as her eyes quickly fell to a stare; the stern edge to her low voice freezing Suyin for a moment, making her wonder if she had really done the right thing.

And she never questioned her own judgement. Well, hardly at least. But with Kuvira, she found herself doing it a lot more.

They both stayed silent for a while; Suyin looking away from the guard to briefly take in the natural beauty of the garden, if not lose herself for a moment before they dived back into the present issues at hand. Kuvira on the other hand, followed Suyin with her eyes, before she gave up and looked up to the myriad of warm colors in the sky.

The world around them they’d both taken a moment to see, was ephemeral, short-lived…but beautiful. The trees were full of life, which was mainly thanks to the strict gardening sessions the gardeners undertook in order to preserve the landscape’s natural beauty all year-round. The leaves of some imported trees were shades of red, others still green. The creek running beneath the bridge, they’d walked over, was full of small fish painted in bright oranges, with a few yellow and white ones mixed in. The outer ledge Kuvira sat on was part of an elaborate gazebo, decorated in fire nation colors to match the palace.

Suyin sighed and focused back on Kuvira. Letting go of the guard’s leg she turned her back to Kuvira, slowly walking closer to the edge of the tree’s shade in thought. “I just needed to get it out, and tell someone I knew I could trust.” Suyin stared out at the sky over the wall. “Keeping this all under wraps isn’t easy for me…Believe it or not. I ju-” Suyin felt Kuvira’s hand slip into her own, and turned back around, looking down at the foot Kuvira had set on the ground in order to reach out for her.

The silence between them remained as Suyin’s eyes took their time, lingering on the guard’s foot, traveling to their linked hands, before meandering up to Kuvira’s face. When her eyes finally made their way to the guard’s, she saw more concerning questions of ‘why’ she’d no doubt have to answer as Kuvira searched her face with a tense brow.

“Suyin…” Kuvira looked down, pushing herself back up onto the ledge and adjusting her seat as she pulled Suyin between her legs with a deep breath. “Why haven’t you told me any of this?” She paused. “It’s hard for me to be there for you if I have no idea what you’re going through, and that kind of pisses me off.” Kuvira watched Suyin look away, and pushed the matriarch’s face back to her. “You shouldn’t keep things from me.”

Suyin glanced to the side. _‘Is that supposed to be sentimental? Or is it a threat?’_ She let her eyes drift back over to the guard’s somewhat intimidating stare, not being able to help a light smile crack at how oblivious Kuvira was to her borderline menacing words. _‘Nope, not threatening, just Kuvira.’_

After a moment a chill ran down her spine, but a breeze of cold air wasn’t the culprit, in fact there was no cold air. The air around them was still hot and dry, just beginning to cool down as evening broke. The chill that shocked her body came from within. It wasn’t often- if ever- that she got nervous. But looking into Kuvira’s unwavering gaze, Suyin not only saw, but felt what she had been trying to avoid since the start of their relationship. It was what she noted as the defining moment; the moment things between them were confirmed to be more serious than she thought they’d ever get.

She’d been in relationships before Kuvira, before Bataar. She’d broken hearts. And most, before the relationship could reach that defining moment. And it’d be a lie to say she hadn’t planned to do the same to Kuvira. But somewhere with Kuvira she’d gotten lost, caught up in every mysterious aspect of the guard and a whirlwind of feelings. She forgot about her shallow intentions from two years ago, and failed to notice all the signs leading to this oncoming moment, until right now, looking back into Kuvira’s eyes.

Suyin looked down into Kuvira’s lap. “I didn’t know how to talk to you about it…I didn’t really want to…” She was honest with not only Kuvira but herself.

This was the moment she was supposed to break away from Kuvira away, telling her it couldn’t go any further, because in truth, she couldn’t afford to get more invested in the young captain. But now instead of dreading this moment as she expected she would, she dreaded the thought of telling Kuvira it was over...

She dreaded the fact that she couldn’t and wouldn’t do it.


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. (sigh) Well this was the original planned continuation for UER, **but I HATED this part SO MUCH** that I held it for over a year. And even now I still don’t like it. But I did have big plans for this story. It’s just unfortunate that this part got caught up in the mix. I still find it cringe-worthy, so bear through the sappy.

There probably are mistakes.

I wasn't really planning on posting this. 

OOC and OTT

\----------------------------

**An Unexpected Reunion- Part 5**

\----------------------------

Kuvira’s eyes went wide in amusement. “Suyin Beifong not knowing what to say?” She gave the woman in her grasp a crooked grin. “Now that’s… _unbelievable_  to say the least.”

A light smile came to Suyin’s face, feeling the guard’s thumbs knead into her wrists, her hands warming the skin they touched. “I know.” She looked up catching the last spark of Kuvira’s diminishing grin. The smile on her own face had already faded. “I didn’t see any need to bring it up.”

“Well it seems to bother you. I’d say that’s pretty important.”

Breaking her hands from Kuvira’s, Suyin looked down; her brow creasing as she turned her back to the guard with a disgruntled groan of frustration. “Talking about this stuff does nothing but cause problems.” Suyin crossed her arms, waving off her words with a dismissing hand.

Behind her the guard rolled her eyes before reaching out to grab Suyin’s arm.

“Come back.” Kuvira pulled Suyin to her. Craning her neck down, She tried to meet the older woman’s gaze. But Suyin looked away. “Hey.” She tried catching Suyin’s eyes again. With the amused smile still on her face, Kuvira forced Suyin’s gaze to meet hers by taking hold of the matriarch’s chin and turning it to her. “Since when are  _you_  worried about causing problems?”

In the brief pause of silence, Suyin glanced down. “Since you.” She answered looking back up, and straight into Kuvira’s eyes. Not being able to hold the shared gaze any longer, Suyin’s gaze fell. “I just didn’t want to cause problems between us.” With a sigh, Suyin placed a hand over her eyes. “What am I saying?”

The whole situation was an ironic mess when Suyin really thought about it. Her relationship with Kuvira had managed to change even the words coming out of her mouth. They were arranging in sentences she would have never spoken, making everything sound so foreign, but saying them felt natural.

Apparently, she had gotten caught up in the relationship somewhere down the line, forgetting that those were examples of how love worked; how it tricked and fooled, changing everything before she could realize it. Or rather, before she could come to terms with it.

_“I just didn’t want to cause problems between us.”_

That was one of the scariest lines she had spoken yet. Here was a married woman, talking about how she didn’t want to cause any problems between her, and the woman she wasn’t even supposed to be seeing in the first place.

**_They_**  were the problem.

And with her, Suyin was causing more  _problems_  than she cared to acknowledge or believe. But instead of stopping, she pushed all the nagging concerns into the background, trying to forget the tormenting feeling of being torn between Kuvira and her family.

“I don’t want you to get the impression that I feel guilty about being with you.”

There they were again, those “misspoken” words that ran out before she could think. Suyin wanted to swallow them the moment they left her mouth.

_“I don’t feel guilty,”_ is really what she was saying, just in a way that made her think otherwise.

She should have felt guilty every waking day she spent with Kuvira, knowing that everything they were doing was morally wrong on many different levels. And she should have felt guilty every time Kuvira and Bataar happened to be in the same room.  

But sometimes she didn’t.

In fact, the closest emotion that came to the guilt she should have felt, was apprehension. Apprehension only when the man she was married to, and the woman she supposedly now loved, were standing in the same space; one not knowing as much as the other.

But those almost daily awkward moments never stopped her from kissing Kuvira again, or sleeping with her one more time.

It used to be all for a crazy thrill, but now it wasn’t. Now Suyin no longer lived for the irresistible urge of want. She lived for the moments in between those heated passionate displays of love; the small things like taking Kuvira’s hand into her own, resting her head on her chest, or just listening to her breathe.

That’s how she knew she was trapped for good.

The moment Suyin realized lust was turning into love was one of the hardest, most conflicting things she had ever emotionally encountered. Suddenly she was drawn to Kuvira for different reasons, consisting of support and comfort; her mind beginning to run wild, wondering all the “what ifs” of a relationship that wasn’t supposed to exist.

And now she couldn’t break away…not after so long.

“Not saying anything is what causes problems.” Kuvira lifted Suyin’s chin, brushing her thumb over Suyin’s cheek, as a calming patience shined in her eyes. The other woman needed reassurance…just this one time. “I love you.” She nonetheless took the stab as Suyin looked away…just as Kuvira knew she would. “…and technically…I know that we’re not supposed to be, discussing anything like this.” She paused. “You have your priorities, and I’m not supposed to be one of them.”

“But you are.” Suyin looked up into Kuvira’s eyes with defiance.

“But I am…” Kuvira smiled seizing one of Suyin’s hands again. “And I’m not saying I’d change that. However, I also recognize that you’ve had a life, long before me.” Her smile faded slowly. “You still have responsibilities Suyin. I’m not going anywhere……yet…” A playful smirk tugged at the corner of Kuvira’s mouth, as she watched Suyin’s brow furrow, just enough to reconfirm her possessive tendencies.

Pulling Suyin into a hug, Kuvira stayed silent just long enough to take in the moment. “I knew something was bothering you…” She mumbled into the woman’s ear, feeling the heavy rise and fall of the woman’s back in her arms as Suyin took in and released a deep breath.

Kuvira sighed, keeping her eyes down as she pushed Suyin back. “Look…” The playful emotion on her face drained into seriousness. “I know I’m not the greatest when it comes to… _emotional_  stuff.”

Suyin looked up at Kuvira, hearing the slight drop in her voice as she continued.

“I respect if you want to talk to someone else, but I-”

Taking Kuvira’s face tenderly into her hands, Suyin silently pulled herself closer, placing her forehead gently against the guard’s. “No, it isn’t that…I just wasn’t sure how to tell you.”

“You could’ve just told me.”

“Well yeah I know that now.”

“What did you think I’d do, blow up because you wanted to tell a close friend?”

Suyin pulled back, giving Kuvira a look with her raised eyebrow. She knew Kuvira too well, and the reserved guard did not like her personal business being freely shared, and especially not without her knowledge.

“Suyin I’m not that messed up.” Kuvira stared back fervently maintaining their gaze. “I would have understood.” Kuvira straightened up, and set her eyes on the wall in the distance over Suyin’s shoulder. “…Maybe.”

“ _Exactly_.” Suyin smirked, jabbing her finger into Kuvira’s abdomen, and getting not only her attention, but a grin in return.

Kuvira’s grin softened to a tame smile. “The main point is, there is nothing I can’t handle. If something is bothering you, tell me.”

Suyin groaned, dropping her head to the guard’s chest, knowing Kuvira was right. She opened her mouth to speak, but was beat to it as two hands took hold of her shoulders.

“You can’t let this consume you, because if your work starts to suffer, nothing good comes from that.”

“Way to cheer me up.” Suyin murmured, turning her cheek to rest against the warm metal of Kuvira’s chest plate. If she listened close enough she could hear Kuvira’s soft breaths directly above her.  With ease, her eyes closed, Kuvira’s embrace keeping her warm as the wind blew over her face.

“It’s true.”

It was true. And all too real were the added consequences she’d face if her work started to fall apart.

“How long-”

_‘...it sounds a little hopeless...’_

Suyin opened her eyes, stopping herself as Izumi’s advice came to mind. She sighed. There had to be a better way to rephrase the dreaded question. “What do you think about the future?” She corrected herself, feeling Kuvira’s grip on her tense. 

“About us?” Kuvira knowingly specified Suyin’s vague inquiry.

“…Yes.” Suyin closed her eyes with another stalling sigh. “For once, I’m not sure what to do.” Pushing herself up, she glanced from the guard’s lap to her eyes. “20 years…or maybe even 15 years ago, this would have worked out perfectly. But now, it puts me in a bad spot.”

Kuvira tried to ignore the fact that she was only three, and probably just beginning to get a solid grip on walking, rather than even thinking of earth or metal bending, in those past decades Suyin referenced. She looked down into Suyin’s eyes, raising a confused eyebrow.

The guard knew what she was asking, but had no immediate response; most people didn’t to a question like that. What could she say to ease Suyin’s rampant thoughts? What could she do to take the extra weight off the world leader’s shoulders?

But at the same time, Suyin didn’t need to hear a rose-colored fantasy, she needed the truth, and Kuvira was almost never short on honesty.

“That’s a heavy question to ask, and one I can’t answer…” She gave Suyin a crooked smile, then grew serious as the open silence between them slowly panned on; Suyin waiting for a more viable answer to her long-withheld question. “All I can tell you is that I have no plans to leave Zaofu.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t bored.”

“No, I’m not. I find my life peaceful in Zaofu…and I have you.” Looking down, Kuvira took Suyin’s hand from her lap and into her own, aimlessly drawing their fingers together as she continued to think. Her other hand, occupied itself by grazing past the metal guard on the woman’s forearm to the bare skin of her elbow. “We will last as long as you want it to Suyin…my outlook hasn’t changed.”

Suyin’s eyes widened. Had Kuvira read her mind? Of course not.

“But…Don’t get caught up in thinking about the future. Taking things day by day is more important.” She looked to Suyin. “Since we have no idea if-”

Kuvira was cut off by the sudden rush of warmth that was Suyin’s lips on hers. Surprised that Suyin had kissed her so readily, Kuvira pulled away first, looking down at the matriarch with widened eyes. “What was that for?”  Her crooked smile slowly returned, stretching as a grin across her face. “Not that I didn’t like it. But _you_ don’t normally do that.”

Suyin shrugged, looking down at her blurry reflection in the guard’s metal chest plate with a smile.

Without warning, Kuvira gently took Suyin’s face into her hands and brought her in closer. But halfway to Suyin’s mouth, Kuvira stopped, her eyes connecting with a pair of confused ones looking back at her. “My nose still hurts, be gentle.” Kuvira gave a playful grin to Suyin’s smirk.

Lifting Suyin’s head, she followed through, pulling the woman in close, finishing off the kiss improperly left incomplete. In it Kuvira gave Suyin everything; all of her love, and all of her happiness. Her hands left Suyin’s face, gliding across the woman’s waist as her arms locked themselves around Suyin, grasping her tighter. And with that, she reassured Suyin, showing her the kind of security and protection that could last a lifetime.

Freeing herself from Suyin’s lips, Kuvira maintained her grip, pulling the woman into a hug beneath her chin. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the future.” She set her chin down on the top of Suyin’s head. “But, I can give you a better answer.” She took a breath. “I know how I feel about you, and I’ve never felt this way about anyone else-”

“Has there ever been  _anyone else_?”

Kuvira locked her jaw. Sometimes Suyin asked the most uncomfortable questions; she had an affinity for prying.

Suyin felt Kuvira’s chest expand, then above her ear she heard an audible exasperated breath come from the guard. Feeling guilty of putting Kuvira on the spot, Suyin turned her head to the side and lightly pressed her ear to Kuvira’s chest once again. She listened to Kuvira’s heart beating, or rather, slowing. There were two normal beats, then a random third in between.  _‘That’s odd.’_

“ _Why_ would you want to know that?”

Feeling Suyin sigh in her arms, Kuvira frowned and gave in. Now she felt obligated to answer.

“There was...”

Kuvira’s voice broke Suyin’s musings over her heart, and she pulled back. “But,  _I’m_  special?” The corner of her mouth turned up.

“I don’t think you need me to tell you that.” Kuvira’s eyes ran over Suyin’s face, taking in every detail. Finally, her gaze fixed onto Suyin’s. “Stop thinking about the future. Before you know it, it will be here, and you’ll still be thinking about it-”

“You know I can’t promise you anything.”

“What?” Caught off guard, Kuvira’s brow furrowed.

And at that Suyin broke from her and stepped back, steeling herself in the process. “I still have to take care of Bataar, and the kids.” Suyin watched the emotion in Kuvira’s eyes start to dull.

“I know.” Relaxing the tension in her brow, Kuvira held her hand out. “Come here Suyin. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.”

As though their roles were reversed, Suyin obeyed and walked back into Kuvira’s grasp; her gaze staying on the guard taking hold of her once again.                                    

“You don’t need to tell me that. I get it.” Seeing Suyin’s relaxed smile return, Kuvira felt ease drift over the both of them. “Anyways, I sound sappy, and I don’t like that, So…” Her words drifted off as she rubbed the back of her neck and glanced away.

“Yeah. But it’s still nice…I didn’t think you could be so sensitive.” Suyin chuckled. “… _and_  for a while there, I thought you were just going through a random phase where you had a fetish for old women.”

Kuvira pulled back from Suyin and grinned. “Really Su, what is with you and this “I’m old stuff”?” She glanced around the garden. “You’re one of the hottest women I know.”

Raising an eyebrow, Suyin looked at Kuvira with wide eyes. “One of the- Who are these  _others_?” She jokingly punched Kuvira in the shoulder.

Kuvira put a hand over her eyes. “Ugh, ok…well that didn’t come out right but I-”

Suyin put her hands down onto Kuvira’s thighs with a smirk, and leaned in close to the guard’s ear. “Relax. I’m just messing with you.” She whispered. “But I do think you’re biased.” Opening her mouth, Suyin tugged down on the guard’s ear with her teeth getting Kuvira to laugh. A sound she didn’t get to hear often.

“You’d be right.” Kuvira grinned looking down into Suyin’s eyes. Locking her heels behind Suyin’s knees she drew her closer. “And, what’s wrong with that?”

Suyin ignored the jolt of adrenaline that pushed into her veins with Kuvira’s action, and smiled through a bite in her lip. She could see the want slipping into Kuvira’s eyes. Any longer, and it’d be slipping into her eyes too, if it wasn’t already. To tame the emotions being stirred up between them, Suyin laid her forehead against Kuvira’s shoulder. “We should head back, before we  _do_  decide to go any further.” Clenching her jaw, Suyin reluctantly pushed herself up and grabbed Kuvira’s hands, ready to pull her off the ledge.

“Hey, it could be a new milestone for us…Sex in the Garden.” Kuvira said the last part slower, giving a seductive low tone to her sultry voice.

Much to Suyin’s horror, she couldn’t tell whether or not Kuvira was joking, and looked up to guard with wide eyes. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Kuvira shrugged. She kept the look on her face neutral, and let her amusement pan out for a few seconds more before relenting. “Yes Su, I’m joking.”

Suyin dismissed the shudder that ran through her body with a scoff. “That sounds like a bad romance novel anyways. Come on.” She turned around with a smirk, giving Kuvira’s arm a brief tug before she let go and started heading back towards the palace, planning to use the same route Izumi took to get back.

“What? I don’t get another kiss?” Kuvira caught up to Suyin feigning disappointment.

“Nope.” Suyin looked over her shoulder to the guard behind her and smiled. “You’ll have to wait. Plus, I don’t think all that kissing is good for your  _nose_  anyways.” She winked, liking the mischievous feeling of taunting Kuvira. She should’ve known better though, taunts were like challenges to the courageous, yet competitive guard.

Kuvira grabbed Suyin around the waist quickly, stopping them before they made it out of their safe zone away from the eyes of others, and kissed her neck. “So. I can take a little pain.”

“You sure?” Suyin smiled playfully, pushing down several tempting sensations, as Kuvira gave her waist a squeeze and the skin of her neck, a nip with her teeth. The guard was testing her limit, if not giving her more of a reason to stay at the palace overnight. “Quit it.”

Kuvira heard the playful edge in Suyin’s voice, but also knew her words were meant to be taken more seriously, as she felt the matriarch elbow her in the stomach. “Ok, jeez.”

“ _Come on,_ let’s go back.” Suyin pulled on guard’s belt, before she stopped, and fully turned around in front of Kuvira. “And listen…” Her face grew serious, and Kuvira quieted. “You’re going to run into her again.” She watched Kuvira raise a confused eyebrow. “You know who I’m talking about.” Suyin noticed Kuvira’s face slowly drop, as her eyes grew darker. “Don’t. Let her get into your head, or push you too far.” Suyin set her hands on Kuvira’s upper arms. “I know it’s hard, but you  _can’t_  let her get to you like you did earlier.” Suyin put a hand onto Kuvira’s chest. “There will be a point where I won’t be able to stop you. That’s not something I want to see. So, just leave her alone. For my sake if anything. Ok?” She smiled.

Kuvira took Suyin’s hand from her chest, faking a small smile and nodded. “Yeah.” She ashamedly looked down, remembering how she lost herself and part of her sanity in that inner chamber with the woman supposed to be her mother.

Kuvira wasn’t about to waste time admitting it, but apart from all the other obvious aspects that made her enmity for Sara so strong, Kuvira was appalled by the fact that Sara couldn’t even recognize her daughter. She was angry that out of everyone, the world had picked a  ~~killer~~  woman with a fucked up mentality to be her mother.

“Alright come on, now we’re really leaving.”

Kuvira stayed in place for a second, watching Suyin walk ahead of her. Even if she cursed the world, she was grateful to it that she had found a person like Suyin. The matriarch brought her back to reality when her mind started to stretch into dangerous places. She kept her from becoming anything like her mother.

Although some may find their relationship disturbing, Suyin really was everything to her. A mother figure she didn’t have, a mentor that groomed and strengthened her natural abilities, and a lover that was also a friend. In the choice Kuvira made to stay by Suyin’s side, she was also letting Suyin know that by following her, she was prepared to give Suyin anything and everything, unconditionally. It would take a hell of a force or reason, something as great as betrayal, for Kuvira to ever turn her back on Suyin.

* * *

Izumi walked back into the inner chamber of the palace, her eyes drifting over to the assassin sitting on the couch with a hand over her eyes.  _‘like mother, like daughter._ ’ The fire lord smirked, and moved closer to the woman she’d known for years.

Looking down to a bloodied white dish towel on the table in front of Sara’s other hand, Izumi’s smirk fell. “So she did get you huh?”

“Hey…” Sara turned her head to Izumi with grin; her nose still not showing any visible signs of being broken. “…kid’s got a mean left hook.” Sara looked down to the towel. “Still wasn’t enough though.”

Izumi gave a small smile. It was just like Sara to give credit to the punch, but deny the pain.

* * *

Sara started out assigned to Izumi as one of her personal guards when she was still an uncrowned heir to the throne.

There were only two.

And after the other guard’s random and untimely death, Sara was the last left.

Zuko –then Fire Lord- told Izumi to select another replacement for the second guard, but Izumi waved off his worries, saying Sara was enough.

She still never forgot the displeased look on her father’s face when she made light of his concern.

Zuko never much liked Sara, but he only outwardly contested against her once, telling Izumi of her _unsettling_  presence; something about the hollow look in her eyes didn’t sit well with him. But there was nothing he could say against her work ethic. Sara’s fire bending skills were almost unmatched by any of the other guards, and she came through on every duty she was given, sometimes even above and beyond.

Zuko had no real reason to get rid of her; he was just disturbed by the evil he saw in her eyes. And Izumi knew that when Sara left according to her own will, maintaining a prolonged absence from the palace of three years, her father wasn’t sad to watch her go. However, he was even less happy when she returned for the first time, resuming her guard duties again as though all were the same, until she disappeared two years later, not to be seen again until after Izumi took the throne.

Having prior experience in the military as one of the Fire Nation’s best swordsmen, it wasn’t hard for Sara to land the job of being a Palace guard. And when she came back after her first absence, she was even stronger.

From the beginning, Izumi had been there, watching Sara grow into her role as the steadfast Royal Guard.

During their first year together, Sara stayed almost completely silent. Other than giving Izumi need-to-know information, the guard’s responses consisted mainly of one word replies, and the occasional grunt.

An odd habit Izumi acquired was talking to Sara every day, as though they were in full-blown conversation, even when the guard’s response was often silence. She got used to talking to herself, and one day, two years after they’d been together, Izumi got a surprise; an opinionated response, from Sara, of all people.

That was the beginning of what Izumi started to call their friendship.

After enduring silence, grunts, yeses and noes, Izumi felt overjoyed to hear Sara contribute something different; that particular conversation being over food out of everything. Sara didn’t like Water Tribe food, and now Izumi had that knowledge. 

It wasn’t much, but still something.

A few months later, Sara took their limited communication a step further, asking Izumi for a favor. The only thing she wanted was evenings off every other day of the week.

Izumi readily accepted. She could always find a temporary person to cover for Sara, and besides, the woman was never gone long. She often came back early in the morning, before dawn would even break. And stepping out of her room, the first face Izumi saw in the morning, was Sara’s. It took a little while, but eventually she looked forward to seeing those unsettling red eyes drift her way.  

“Good Morning Sara.” She would inherently say, getting only a nod in return.

However, as the years went on, Izumi watched Sara’s disposition change, growing darker and more distant with each day that passed. Always very coarse and cold, friendliness was never Sara’s strong point, she didn’t even try to fake it. But as time passed, Izumi noticed the small amount of emotion she could see in Sara’s eyes, was fading; like every ounce of her humanity was slowly being taken out, leaving nothing but emptiness.

Still, it was never easy letting her go.

The first time was hard, Izumi had grown attached, but Sara said she’d return, so there was an ounce of hope.

Then she returned; Izumi waking up to find her window open, and Sara sleeping in the armchair next to the bed; a sheathed sword glistening in the moonlight as it leaned against her inner knee.

The second time Sara left was the most brutal, because she had all but mysteriously disappeared, leaving nothing behind as a trace, not even a note.

* * *

 

A.N. Sap is running from the love trees, I know -_-. Not my finest. lol. But there's no more of that.


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N. Quite long…hope there are not too many mistakes.**

* * *

 

 

_UER part 6_

 

**_167 AG_ **

_Simple familiarity was an understatement. Déjà vu better described the phenomenon she experienced as she walked down the grand hallway, years after abandoning her duty as guard to the Fire Lord’s daughter._

_Draped over her forearm, her long coat dangled inches from the floor; her feet stepping in a quickened pace as she followed behind a palace guard; her eyes taking in the grandiose surroundings she hadn’t seen in years. Some of the historic furniture had been rearranged, but not much else had changed. She glanced down at her feet, watching them moved along the bright red carpet for just a second. So acclimated to the palace, she could tell, this wasn’t the carpet she remembered. It felt new, and recently replaced. The stiff fibers under her boots had yet to be broken down by hundreds of feet, and thousands of steps._

_Then, finally making it to the Fire Lord’s office, she was ushered in by another palace guard._

_“This is valuable commander, thank you.”_

_The woman watched Izumi take the paper out of the well armored man’s hand and place it among the documents on the desk._

_“There is another matter I wanted to bring to your atten-”_

_“Fire Lord, you have a visitor.”_

_Izumi looked up from the documents scattered on her desk, watching the guard step to the side, revealing a face she hadn’t seen in years. She stared at Sara, holding the gaze for the longest time. Her eyes didn’t go wide, and her face showed little surprise. At such an unexpected reunion, she wasn’t sure what to do. Stunned, she sat silent; her eyes scanning over Sara’s appearance._

_Not too much had changed, but something about her felt different, something felt off._

_With her, Sara brought a darkness into the room, that matched the black turtle neck she wore; the sleeves habitually pushed up to the elbow, revealing a simple gold dial and leather band watch around her left wrist. Further down, her gaze fell to slim pants and Fire Nation boots of the same color. And like always, Sara kept the pants tucked perfectly into the boots that sat just a few inches below her knee._

_Getting up from her desk, the Fire Lord watched Sara’s eyes connect with the commander’s; a hint of animosity being thrown his way. “It’s been a long time.” She smiled at the taller woman, who only turned to her and stared in response. “What are you doing here?” Izumi asked, stopping a good distance away from Sara. She didn’t need to get closer to notice the dead look in her eyes that was more prominent now than before, or how her face had aged and hardened with time; the story of her struggles written upon it._

_“Tell him to leave.”_

_At the hostility in Sara’s voice, Izumi was struck with a loss for words. Her gaze fell to Sara’s feet, then up to the commander. “Thank you.” She nodded to him. “You may return to your duties commander.”_

_His eyes shot to Sara’s. His brow furrowed. As she turned her head away from him, he nodded to the Fire Lord. Taking the engraved black and red helmet from the crook of his arm, he placed it over his head moving quickly from the room._

_Izumi looked to Sara. “So what is this about?”_

_Tossing her coat over the back of one of the Fire Lord’s antique couches, Sara silently moved to the office door and closed it. “I have reason to believe someone’s trying to kill you." She walked back, and stopped in the middle of the room. "I’d like to stick around if I can.” Sara stared at Izumi’s wide eyes plainly._

_That was it._

_That was the first thing Sara said to her, after being gone for more than a decade. Not a "hi" or "how are you?"_

_But that was just Sara’s forward and indifferent personality that Izumi had gotten used to._

_Izumi sighed, walking over to the sitting area in front of her desk; a warming fireplace to the side of two red couches and the wooden table that sat in between them. “When are they not? Death threats have become a normality.” She took a seat, feeling Sara’s presence move closer._

_Getting used to death threats was just part of living as royal blood. People were mean, spiteful, and even envious of her position granted by birth right._

_It was true, not everyone liked the royal family. To some the monarchy was outdated, and the rise of the Republic City democracy was what began to open the eyes of citizens to a new style of government, and representation that came from the mouths of the people. After that, more and more started to the see the monarchy as just the tyranny of one person._

_As the years passed, civil unrest forced Izumi to become a new kind of Fire Lord, ruling in a very different manner than her father, who was hesitant to approve of her new governing methods. But she opened his eyes to the changing generation, showing him that antiquated governing methods could still work, but needed to upgrade with the changing times._

_Lessening her control over the fire nation people and their daily lives, Izumi gave them a voice and became an ear to listen to their opinions. She stood firm in her belief that giving the citizens more freedom was the better decision to catch the fire nation up to the rest of the world. However, reforming old ways and starting over was not without its volatile opposition._

_Now that people were no longer persecuted for speaking freely, many took the opportunity to publicly attack the royal family both verbally and physically. It was the price Izumi paid for giving power to people who weren’t ready for it._

_Over time the initial hype died down, and the normalcy of daily life fell back into place. In the long run the lives of the citizens fared better; they were happier knowing their Fire Lord was trying to make an effort to hear them out. But not everyone could be pleased; a fact of life Izumi had once struggled to get used to. Some still hated her, just as her father said they would. For whatever reasons they had, people like them never came around to accepting any change, or the royal family._

_That’s why she kept strong people at her side, to keep her safe from the select few who dared to challenge her reign, or even eliminate her altogether._

_“I don’t want to comeback as a guard. This is only temporary.”_

_Izumi listened to the other woman’s deep voice get closer, until Sara was near enough that the Fire Lord could’ve reached out and touched her._

_“I only plan on sticking around until I find whoever it is, and then I’ll be gone.”_

_Izumi looked down at her distorted reflection in the polished wood top of the table below her._

_“Who is it? Do you know?”_

_“No.”_

_Izumi looked up at Sara standing above her. “How have you managed to come into this information before me? I haven’t heard of any recent threats.”_

_“Your guard is corrupt.” Sara glanced to the door, answering around the Fire Lord’s question. “I think at least two are serving the Shi Won.”_

_“The crime organization?”_

_Sara nodded and took a seat across from the Fire Lord; the fire’s orange glow coloring her face, bringing an uncharacteristic warmth to her sullen eyes. “I won’t be surprised if I’m right. You can’t trust anybody these days. Not even me.”_

_“No, You, I’ll always trust…regardless.” Izumi smiled. “But I’d be disappointed if the assassin turned out to be you.”_

_Sara’s face turned grim as she stared past the Fire Lord; a hollow vacancy stealing the attention from her eyes. “So…can I stay?” She brought herself back from the void, and looked to Izumi._

_“Of course, you know I wouldn’t tell you no.” Izumi stood from the couch, and looked down at Sara. “Stay wherever you want and I’ll leave you to…do whatever it is you came here to do.” She smiled and gave a light chuckle before walking back over to her desk._

* * *

Even though they had known each other for years, the hugs and things of a typical long-term friendship were absent. It just wasn’t the way Sara was.

Even if Izumi hoped for more, the Fire lord learned to be grateful for the small moments she had with Sara. There was still a tether of something strong that held their bond together throughout the years, even in distance. That strand of an indescribable feeling was the reason Sara came back, protecting her like she always had.

And it didn’t take more than a week to find out Sara was right.

The person was a guard, just as she had suspected. His name was Min. He came to the palace as a teen, after his parents stuck him in a military school. He’d only been a guard a couple years, but Sara didn’t care about any of that. She didn’t need to know him; She didn’t want to know him.

* * *

 

**_167 AG — 11:45 P.M._ **

_Izumi always loved the security the palace walls afforded her. Sometimes being blocked off from the real world wasn’t a bad thing. The palace could give the illusion of peace even when outside the walls chaos spurred._

_But tonight was quiet._

_Not being able to sleep, she’d found herself walking through the garden and out to the courtyard in her plain red robe; a small gold trim, the only décor, running along its border. This was one of the rare times she broke free of that somewhat cumbersome royal gown she had to wear by traditional standards. But when she took her hair down from the golden headpiece, she was no longer the Fire Lord; Or at least that’s what she liked to think. Guards and palace workers still approached her. But when they uttered the word “Fire Lord”, she just turned them away._

_These hours were her moments of peace. And those who knew she had a habit of roaming the palace grounds late at night, stayed out of her way, giving only subtle nods of acknowledgement when she passed them._

_Sometimes, once her journey took her out the main palace doors, and to the base of the grand cement steps. There she just stopped, and admired the vast expanse of the courtyard. Compared to the structured celebrations and ceremonies, the courtyard looked so empty, if not desolate without the palace’s military presence lined in rows before her. And the white stone almost seemed too perfectly clean. Unfortunately, keeping every square inch of that stone white was someone’s job. She’d seen them before, scrubbing the ground with a special brush, sometimes on their hands and knees enduring the sun’s hot rays. But tradition was tradition, and every custom and ritual held a special place in her heart._

_Moving past the eerily silent guard barracks, Izumi took a shortcut back to her room._

_“HEY! What the-”_

**_‘What?’_ ** _Izumi raised an eyebrow at the male voice, and backtracked to a dark alley she’d passed._

_She stood near barrack one, and on the other end of the alley, at barrack two, she saw a person throw another to the ground. Izumi squinted as much as she could, trying to make out the distant figures, not realizing her curiosity was slowly pulling her deeper into the dark alley._

_Her plush red slippers muted her foot steps to near silence._

_Making it to the end, her eyes went wide. **‘Sara.’** Izumi looked down at her foot sticking out in the moonlight, and quickly pulled it back into the shadows. _

_Sara stood motionless, her ominous presence hovering over a guard still in his pajamas. On his hands and knees, he coughed at her feet, his hand at his throat. Sticking her foot underneath his chest, Sara lifted her leg and sent him flopping onto his back. Then she stopped again, her eyes making a quick glance to the side. Someone was watching._

_Seeing Sara’s head shoot up as her adept instincts sensed another’s presence, Izumi let out a gasp, and pushed herself further into the alley. Although she hadn’t been spotted, the menacing look on Sara’s face was enough to instill fear in her heart._

_**‘Those eyes’** Izumi felt a small jolt run through her as Sara’s edgy gaze jumped from place to place, before finding its way to the alley._

_“Please.” The guard’s plea from below stopped Sara’s hand from drawing her sword._

_And Izumi watched the woman’s demeanor relax as her focus was brought back to the guard at her feet._

_“Plea-”_

_Sara reached down and grabbed the back of his collar, dragging him out of Izumi’s view without a care in the world._

_Izumi set her shoulder against the wall; the courage within her wanting to confront Sara. The woman so loyal to her wouldn’t hurt her, that much she knew with certainty. She peeked around the corner, watching the guard struggle and fight to get free of Sara’s grasp, like he knew escape was his only chance at survival. When he did manage to break free for a moment, Sara just yanked him back down to the ground and dragged him with both hands._

_Then it went silent._

_Sara slid him to an adjacent cobblestone pathway; the ancient stones having been a secluded trail laid sometime during the Great War._

_She moved over the guard. And whatever pleas he may have made, Izumi couldn’t hear. The only noise heard splitting through the night was the katana slipping from the sheath in Sara’s left hand._

_Striking the guard below without any warning, she swiftly killed him in silent cold-blood, moments after her darkened eyes connected with his. The slit in his throat was cut with precision; a line of spatter leaving crimson stains on the stones. In her eyes, and on her face, there was no emotion, no care. He was never even given the chance to say his last words. Sara took away any possibility of a satisfaction or salvation of closure he may have been expecting._

_Her face would be the last thing he saw in the world of the living, and that alone was a sadistic gratification to Sara._

* * *

All these years later, and the image of Sara standing over the body of the defected guard was still burned into the Fire Lord’s mind. She could still see Sara bury the sword into his chest, after she decided one cut wasn’t enough for him. She remembered thinking how odd it was for Sara to strike her target again. Sara had always been an efficient fighter. She never seemed like the type to waste her energy devastating an already dead body. But that night, she plunged the sword right into the guard’s heart, as he slowly bled out from the gash in his throat.

* * *

_Stepping on him with a foot pressed into his collar bone, Sara pulled the sword out. His blood pooled around her boot, flowing from the entrance wound, as droplets dripped down the platinum sword’s tip like water._

_Watching Sara kneel and wipe the blood off her blade using the guard’s own shirt, solidified Izumi’s thoughts that Sara had become something worse. Or maybe, this was who Sara was all along, Izumi just hadn’t seen it until now. This woman’s very humanity had been stripped out of her, and left to be desecrated under her feet even more with each kill, but Izumi didn’t know the latter. She only knew what she saw, as a trail of blood ran from the body, down the grey stone pavement, and to the edge of her foot._

_Before she realized she was standing in the open, she saw the slow turn of Sara’s head, like something out of a nightmare, as her eyes connected with an almost featureless face staring at her from the shadows._

_But Izumi didn’t scream, or run. She walked towards her, letting her very being be pulled towards the evil in front of her, drawn in by a forgiving loyalty._

_To her, it was still the same woman she trusted with her life._

_And even though all the signs pointed in the opposite direction, Izumi still moved closer, watching Sara stand and sheath the sword. Maneuvering around the blood trail, she stopped in front of her, and looked up into those cold eyes staring back at her._

_In that moment, Izumi saw more about Sara than the woman had ever told her. And she saw something else she’d never seen, the semblance of an apology; as though Sara wished the Fire Lord hadn’t witnessed what she did._

_But more importantly, the veil of disbelief that had once shrouded the Fire Lord eyes had been lifted. Still, Izumi didn’t want to believe that Sara, a trusted confidant, was really no different than a criminal on the streets, forcing people to meet their sudden deaths. Remembering all of Sara’s previous disappearances, the Fire Lord wondered how many other lives had she taken, and what drove her to do it._

_Izumi glanced to the body only for a second, giving a short sigh before she took Sara’s forearm and cleared her throat.  “Come on.”  She all but whispered taking her disappointed gaze away from the woman before her. Izumi pulled Sara away from the body, mainly so she wouldn’t have to look at it._

_“Wait.”_

_Izumi went to lead them up the pathway, but stopped when Sara didn’t respond to her pull anymore. She turned around letting the arm in her grasp go; her eyes following Sara’s movements as Sara bent over and removed her boots. Looking back to the body, Izumi’s jaw clenched when she saw the beginning of what would have been a bloody trail of footprints leading right to her room. “Good Call.” She spoke soft, a rare tone of shame sneaking into her words._

_Sara simply straightened herself up, and looked her in the eye again; the shoes dangling from her hand._

_Breaking their gaze, Izumi turned and continued walking forward, feeling Sara’s looming presence following her from behind._

_Not a word more was spoken. But the Fire Lord would have been lying to say she didn’t feel a moment of unease with her back turned to a murderer._

_Yet, Izumi had a plan working in her head, to hide Sara away for the remainder of the night, and let the guards discover the body in the morning. From there, she’d figure out what direction to take the situation in next. As the Fire Lord, she already knew she had the luxury of power on her side. No one in the palace dared to challenge her, for fear of what would happen to them. So Izumi was confident she could keep Sara from facing the consequences of her actions._

_Although conflicting, that option felt right, and was how Sara ended up in her bedroom, sitting once again in the old arm chair, slowly falling into a peaceful sleep she probably didn’t deserve; a small speck of blood still on the back of her hand._

_If her mind weren’t troubled by what had happened, Izumi might’ve chuckled at the soft snores the woman made as her head dropped back against the red velvet upholstery; her hand going limp around the sword she held close to the side of her leg. But she was troubled, and couldn’t even muster a smile._

_The only thing Izumi could see when she fell asleep were those images of Sara killing the guard, albeit in a more grotesque manner; the manner of a monster. And when she woke with a start, the only thought her mind kept fighting over, was how she could cover for such a person, and still want to keep her around._

_Sara was a danger to everybody, and housing her contradicted the Fire Lord’s strong morals against violence. In her eyes, it was a useless distraction that only led to chaos. But now, Izumi almost felt relieved that she had repealed her zero-tolerance policy six months ago._

_She kept calming herself by realizing that Sara had never been outwardly aggressive to anyone in the palace. Well, she did occasionally yell and shove, but that only happened when she was pushed. She had never hurt anyone just to have fun. And as long as more people weren’t turning up dead around the palace, Izumi could look past the events of this night._

_That killing was done out of necessity._

_Sara killed him only because she had to get to him before he could put his assassination plan into action._

_From where she sat in bed, Izumi turned her head to the arm chair. Without her glasses there wasn’t much she could see in the dark, but she could trace the outlines of Sara’s slouching form. Watching her sleep by the bedside eased Izumi’s mind. For the first time this night, she saw that Sara was still as human as she was, and not just a cold-hearted machine._

_Even evil had to sleep._

* * *

**_9:00 A.M._ **

_When the panicked guards came running to her office later in the morning, telling her about their gruesome discovery by the barracks, Izumi put on a dumbfounded face, listening to the guards ramble on about her safety, not even knowing that the person who had committed the murder stood right beside her, staring unfazed at the guards anxiously pacing around the office._

_Knowing Sara, their stirred-up display probably amused her. Izumi could only imagine she was trying to hold in a smirk._

_Sitting on the couch, the Fire Lord waved off their concerns for her protection; her first cup of tea in her other hand. “Just clean up the mess, and remove the body. Don’t speak of it anymore. Word of this doesn’t need to be getting out into the streets-”_

_“Fire lord-” The tall man above interrupted her, irritation showing on his aged face._

_“No commander, you have your orders. I won’t hear of it anymore-”_

_“But-”_

_“I won’t.” She paused, and took a deep breath. “I have listened to every detail of every situation and scenario you have given me in the last two hours.” Her eyes connected with his. “Yet, you have come to me with no evidence or plan of action-”_

_“The body is evidence enough!”_

_“You are out of line commander!” Izumi’s angry gaze looked right into his; her cup finding its way down to the coffee table. “Need I remind you of who you’re speaking to?”_

_His eyes quickly shot to the floor. “My apologies Fire Lord.”_

_With his brow still furrowed, the commander gritted his teeth together, and slowly looked up to Sara._

_He always hated her. He’d been by the Fire Lord’s side just as long. Yet, she was the one who always got the special treatment; a seat right next to the Fire Lord, while he continued to wait for his long overdue promotion to general._

_And now Sara was back again, and he, was still no closer to Izumi than the day he’d first come to the palace, decades ago. His rank had increased, but he Fire Lord still treated him like a common soldier._

_“Come to me with evidence, and we’ll go from there. In the meantime, you can post extra guards around the barracks, and the palace, for your peace of mind.”_

_“…Yes Fire lord.” He and his second in command went to bow._

_“One more thing before you go.”_

_They lifted themselves upright, and waited for Izumi’s announcement._

_Izumi lifted a finger and pointed up at the woman standing beside her. “This is Sara. Commander I know you know that, but I’m introducing her for your subordinate.” Izumi sensed the hostility in his eyes. “Anyways, she’ll be your new boss. Any concerns you have, take them to her first, and she’ll pass them on to me.” She looked at the faces staring down at her; one a little confused, and the other contravening. “Is that understood?” She said, her stern eyes connecting with the commander’s. “Is it?”_

_The guards looked over to Sara’s blank expression, then bowed to the Fire Lord; the commander taking an extra second of hesitation before he bowed._

_“Yes ma’am.” He spoke, his eyes glued to the floor._

_“Understood ma’am.”_

_“Good, now go and spread the word to the others.”_

_Watching the guards each bow one last time and quickly file out of the room, Izumi stood, moving past the woman beside her, to the large window in her office through which the morning sun filtered in._

_“You sure you want me to stay?”_

_Izumi stopped and turned around to Sara, looking into her eyes as she silently nodded. “Yes. I think I made that clear.” She turned back, gazing down at the courtyard below, watching the guards change shift with ease. “You don’t have to be a guard or anything, and you’re always free to go. But I’d feel better having an old friend around.”_

_Sara stared at the Fire Lord’s back for a moment before making her way over to Izumi with a grin stretching across her face. “Those idiots don’t know what they’re doing, do they?”_

_Izumi sighed. “More or less...” Feeling Sara’s shoulder brush hers, Izumi smiled and nudged the other woman in the arm. “You were always better at it anyways.”_

_“Yeah, I know I was.”_

_Turning their heads at the same time, the both of them locked eyes._

_Seeing Sara’s rare grin made Izumi smile in return; an easy laugh following shortly after._

_“Well someone’s a little cocky today.”_

_Sara shrugged maintaining her grin, as she gazed back out the window. “What? I’m only stating the truth.”_

_With nothing else to say, Izumi turned back to the window, just content to see that through everything their friendship still remained strong, as they both picked up right where they had left off over 10 years ago._

_“The incident” as the murder was referred to, was never spoken of between them, and that’s how it would remain._

* * *

**Present**

After that day in the office, Sara never left again, permanently at least. She still disappeared from time to time. But that was something Izumi had grown to accept knowing she’d always return; sometimes a little more bruised and beaten, both emotionally and physically. Izumi always wondered where Sara would go, what she’d do, and how she’d get new injuries on her body, but she never asked, and knew Sara would never answer. It was a mutually understood, yet unspoken rule between them.

Instead, Izumi made sure to be there for Sara when she did get back from a rough night. Sometimes Sara needed a towel, wet or dry, to wipe away the dirt and blood. Sometimes, she just needed a glass of water or a cup of tea. And Izumi was always the one to give it to her, no questions asked.

Even with her concerns, there was nothing she could do to stop Sara, who healed quickly and fell back into the same dangerous cycle of her life, as soon as she was able to move with only a slight lingering soreness left in her body.

“All these years……why didn’t you ever tell me you had a daughter?”

Sara gave an irritated grumble under her breath and looked away.

“Yes, you’re at least going to give me an answer to that question.” Izumi moved closer. “And I’ll wait until you do.”

Izumi waited, and waited, just watching the woman sitting below her stare into the bloody towel on the table. Soon her focus drifted up to some of the wide ceiling high support columns around the spacious room. She started moving forward, away from Sara, aimlessly walking to the other side.

“I didn’t think it was important. I didn’t think I’d have to see her again.”

Izumi turned over shoulder, seeing Sara’s brow creased to a dangerous point; the fingers of her hand pressing into her temple. Obviously, Kuvira wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss.

“Didn’t think it was important?” The Fire Lord’s brow furrowed as she turned around to Sara. “She’s your own flesh and blood-”

“Don’t remind me.”

Izumi’s mouth hung agape. “Why…why are you so…so _adverse_ to her?”

Sara groaned.

“I mean, I know you, and I wouldn’t say I’m 100 percent surprised but…well…maybe this time I am disturbed by how little you care. An-”

“You’ve met her before.”

Izumi froze at Sara’s interruption. “What?”

“You don’t even remember…” Sara smirked. “But how would you? Since I lied to you.”

“What are you talking about?” Izumi pushed as Sara stayed silent for a long while.

“The day you followed me to the gym…”

“ _That?_ That was over a decade ago-”

“A little girl came up to you…”

Izumi’s eyes darted from side to side, her mind trying to hone in on the details of the past as best as it could. Finally seeing the image of the little girl with curious green eyes coming up to her, Izumi gasped. Now she could put two and two together. Now she could see how the little girl’s eyes matched those of Suyin’s guard.

Once the brunt of her shock lessened, Izumi moved over and slowly took a seat next to Sara. “That’s why…”

“Why what?”

“That’s why she looked familiar...I thought it was just because she reminded me of you.” Focusing in on that memory, Izumi remembered more of what she saw that day. 

She saw Sara’s strong stance and agile roundhouse kick to a training dummy as she entered the large run down gym. The next thing she could remember was sitting down on one of the bleachers towards the back, just wanting to watch the powerful woman below her to relieve her fascination. Not only was she curious to see why Sara wanted some evenings off, but she was eager to understand what made Sara so strong. At the time, she figured watching Sara train would give her some of the answers she desired. Only later did Izumi realize she had been wrong.

Sara’s strength didn’t come from the muscles on her body, or the viciousness of her crippling strikes. No, her strength came from her mind’s sharpened focus, and steadfast dedication to her goal; a disciplined mentality that came from years of training.

Izumi pushed further into the memory, seeing the happy little green-eyed girl, eager for conversation, walk up to her and say hi, only to be shooed away by Sara moments later; the woman telling Izumi she was just a beggar child from the street.

Sara wasn’t happy to see her there that night. And Izumi already knew a guarded woman like her wouldn’t take well to being followed. She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen as a result, but she was surprised when Sara never addressed it.

Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Izumi checked on Sara as she broke herself from her memories. But the other woman hadn’t budged in the long bout of silence between them. Sara’s hands were still folded out in front of her, and her eyes still focused on the bloody towel.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Well, Kuvira has popped back into your life-”

“You make it sound like I want something to do with her.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” Sara answered flatly.

Izumi turned to Sara and opened her mouth, but took an extra second to consider her words carefully. “I saw how you lashed out at Suyin when she told you you didn’t know Kuvira.”

“So, I don’t like her.” Sara shrugged. “Doesn’t mean anything. Just means she runs her mouth too much.” Her jaw clenched at the thought of Suyin. “What’s her story anyways? You seem to know her pretty well.”

“Suyin?”

“Yeah.”

With a sigh, Izumi looked down, crossing her legs as she folded her hands in her lap, and leaned back to the couch. “I do…” She paused. “Or at least I _think_ I do.” A smile found its way to her face.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’ve been friends for decades, but…Suyin is a very… _complex_ person. I was actually friends with her older sister first. But-”

“She has a sister?” Sara smirked. “Ugh, I dread the thought of that.” She chuckled.

“Yes she does. And Lin is a lot more like you.”

The laughter beside her died down.

“Lin can be a bit of a stick in the mud though. And Suyin probably has more colorful words to describe her.”

“They don’t like each other?”

Izumi sighed. “They never really got along. They fought every day over every little thing. It did nothing but drive them to hate each other.” She paused, remembrances of a distant childhood drawing vivid memories. “Siblings always fight. But their disagreements were taken to a personal level. They were just so different…maybe too different.” Izumi saw Suyin picking on Lin and Lin scolding Suyin. “Their mother was never around, so a lot of the pressure was put on Lin to do what she could for Suyin.”

“Ah, so the older one spites the younger one.”

“Yes and no.” Leaning against the arm of the couch, Izumi put the side of her face into her hand. “Suyin wasn’t the woman she is today back then. She was many things…a little ungrateful, a little selfish, and very hardheaded.” Izumi smiled thinking of the dark-haired drama queen her best friend used to be.

Sara chuckled. “I can still see that in her eyes now.”

“Well ok, so Suyin hasn’t really changed, she’s just learned a few lessons…the hard way.” She paused again. “It took her a long time to settle down with the husband she has now.”

Sara grinned. “So she’s a whore.”

Izumi’s eyes went wide. _‘Oh spirits good thing Kuvira’s not in here.’_

“Makes sense, she looks like that type. A lot of those Earth bender women are.” Sara looked over to the angry eyes looking back at her. “What?” She turned away.

“You seem to forget that your daughter is one of those Earth benders.”

The amusement fell from Sara’s face, a grimace taking its place. “Yeah, well she wouldn’t be one if I had any say in it. But if she _is_ anything like me, she’s got more dignity than that.”

“Than what, Suyin?”

Sara raised an eyebrow as she stared at the ground and shrugged.

Izumi shot up from her seat. “She may have started off rough. But that is no reason for you to degrade a comrade of this palace…and a friend of mine.”

“It scares me to see how quick you are to stand up for an Earth bender.”

“And it scares me to witness how prejudiced you are towards them.” Izumi locked her jaw. Sometimes she wondered how she ever came to like and endure the presence of this backward thinking person before her. She let Sara think what she wanted to as long as it didn’t influence anyone else. Yet, she always wondered why Sara hated Earth benders so much. “The war is over, and has been for years.”

Sara kept her gaze down. “No, the war still simmers every day in the streets. Earth benders who step foot into the wrong parts of the Fire Nation can be killed, and vice versa for us going to the Earth Kingdom.”

Izumi scoffed. “That’s hate crime. People will always commit those acts, and most of those killings are perpetrated by street gangs.” Her eyes saddened a bit, thinking about how the woman below her saw nothing but darkness. “That’s not what the majority of the world is like.” Her tone softened.

“Well…we see two different worlds, because we’re from two different worlds.”

Seeing Sara’s demeanor darken, Izumi knew it was time to change the subject. “Regardless, Suyin is like family to me. What she did in her past has no bearing on who she is now.”

“People don’t change Izumi. A cheater will always cheat, a killer will always kill.” Sara looked up to the Fire Lord. “My past has made me who I am.”

Izumi stayed silent. _‘Maybe she’s right.’_ She looked away. _‘Kuvira isn’t the first time Suyin has cheated on someone.’_  With a slight hesitance, she turned back to Sara. “The past doesn’t have to define you.” She spoke soft, a hint of disappointment in her voice. “Suyin is a perfect example of that.”

Watching Sara turn her head away and look towards the door, the Fire Lord took in a breath ready to lighten the room’s somber mood, and she smiled. “You’ve changed the subject completely.” Izumi gave a knowing look, as Sara turned back and glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “Don’t think I didn’t notice. This is still about you and Kuvira.”

“Ugh.” Sara let out a deep groan, and stood, slowly making her way to the double doors.

“Where are you going?”

Sara kept moving.

“ **Sara?** ”

With a sigh, she stopped and turned back to the Fire Lord. “Look, the kid doesn’t need me, and I don’t need her. End of story. Don’t try to solve anything.”

“Where are you going?” Izumi asked again, concerning showing in her eyes.

Sara turned back around, resuming her walk towards the door. “I’m going to clean up…” She called out. “Then I’ll come back.” She said just loud enough for the Fire Lord to barely make out. Pulling the door open, her eyes came face to face with the widened fearful ones of a young palace guide in a gray suit; his hand still up in its knocking position. “Move.” The brooding woman put the back of her hand to the shorter man’s shoulder and pushed him aside.

Seeing the tip of a black shoe sticking out from behind the door, Izumi squinted. Realizing someone was hiding on the other side, she waited for him to enter. But he never did. “You can come in now.”

From behind the door, the same man who had ushered Suyin in, took a quick peek into the room before deeming it safe.

“What did you need?” Izumi met him halfway to the door.

He bowed, holding his glasses in place with a hand on the bridge of his nose. “The Water bender is here your grace.”

“Already? Ok, thank you…show her to my office. And if you see Suyin and Kuvira, point them in the same direction.”

Nodding, the man kept his stance lower than Izumi’s, as he backed up and turned around only after having taken the proper amount of steps away from the Fire Lord.

At recognizing the old ritual of courtesy and respect, Izumi gave a light-hearted chuckle, watching him disappear through the doorway.

* * *

**The Grand Hallway**

“You knew…” Suyin stopped in front of Kuvira in the middle of the grand red carpeted hallway, and turned to her. That thought had been bothering her for some time. “Why didn’t you tell me your mother was alive?”

“She’s not a mother…” Kuvira sneered rather loudly in disgust right as two Fire Nation guards passed by them.

“Well I kind of figured that out.” Suyin nodded to them with a smile, then took Kuvira’s upper arm once they had passed and led her to a shadowed place behind one of the towering palace columns. She wanted an answer before Kuvira went back into that inner chamber.

“Su, I don’t want to talk about this again.” Kuvira looked her in the eye. “Not now. I’ve had enough.”

“Kuvira. I’m not giving you a choice.”

There it was, that calm but commanding tone to Suyin’s voice; her gaze soft but unrelenting.

Keeping her eyes on Suyin’s, Kuvira’s brow deeply knitted together. She made sure Suyin saw her annoyance, but still, she obeyed the order. She glanced down from Suyin who was obviously waiting for her to start. And with a sigh, she did. “She abandoned me. I was six.” Kuvira shrugged feeling her arm move within Suyin’s grasp. “Yeah I hate her for that, and the way she treated me when we were together.”

“Your anger is not what I questioned.” Suyin took her hand from Kuvira. “You have every right to be mad. She’s not a good person.” She watched Kuvira’s eyes move across the floor from spot to spot, her face still showing resentment. And in that moment the matriarch wanted to lift Kuvira’s chin, placing reassuring hands on the sides of  Kuvira’s face, reminding this troubled person, that she needn’t dwell on the past anymore. The life she had now was all that mattered. But in the open areas of the palace, Suyin couldn’t be seen touching a subordinate in a personal manner. “I just want to know why you lied to me, and told me she was dead.” She continued.

 “It was easier. And I thought you mi-”

“The Fire Lord said she’ll see you two in her office.”

A small jolt was sent through both women as they turned to see the same guide in the gray suit from before standing right beside them.

Still surprised by his intruding entrance, it took Suyin a moment to gather her words. More than anything, Suyin was irritated by him abruptly cutting their conversation short. Butting in was one of her pet peeves, and the furrow in her brow showed that.

“I apologize for the interruption.”

Suyin glanced to Kuvira and looked down. “That’s fine. Thank you for telling us.”

The man nodded, leaving them to themselves once more.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Suyin moved back to the red carpeted walkway, Kuvira following suit. “You’re still not off the hook.” She smiled over her shoulder.

* * *

**Fire Lord’s Office**

“So what is this _emergency_ I had to come down here for…doesn’t look like anybody’s dying.”

Izumi put on a bright smile hearing Kya’s voice enter the room. Turning from the office window she went to hug the water bender she hadn’t seen in weeks.

Izumi enveloped her in a warm, inviting hug, and pulled back. “Thank you for coming.”

“So what is it?”

“Suyin needs you to repair her guard’s broken nose.”

“She’s here?” Kya’s eyes lit up watching Izumi nod and walk to the fireplace sitting area where she took a seat. “Well if this was a get together, why wasn’t _I_ invited?”

“I figured you were busy.”

“Oh really…that’s it…your great excuse for shutting me out?” Kya raised an eyebrow. “So you have no problem tearing me away from life for a little nose job...” She walked over to the coffee table, and put her medical bag down beside the Fire Lord’s tea. “But when it comes to anything besides medical work, I’m in the back of your mind. Hmm?”

Izumi smiled. “It’s not like that, promise.” She looked up. “Suyin made this visit last minute, _very_ last minute.”

“Sounds like her, spontaneous and brash.” Kya beamed a smile. “So where is she?”

The Fire Lord went to speak, but was stopped short when Suyin stepped into the office as if on cue, and the water bender above her took notice.

“Well I guess that answers that.”

“Kya.” Suyin met the taller woman half way for a hug.

Separating from Suyin, Kya’s eyes went to the woman’s forehead. She gasped.

“What?” Suyin watched her reached out; her fingers hovering over her head.

“Is that a…white hair?”

“Ugh.” Suyin growled, pushing Kya’s hand out of the way as she moved over to where Izumi sat.

 “I’m just kidding…it’s light grey. You’ve still got some years to go.” Kya chuckled with a smile. She loved picking on Suyin. It was a trademark between the two of them. They always jabbed and taunted each other. All in good spirits of course. Kya hadn’t changed much from the younger person she used to be. But Suyin had. And over the years, the matriarch’s teasing jeers had become almost a thing of the past.

“At least I’m not the one looking dead.”

Kya’s eyes widened. “Dead?”

Suyin smirked. “You’re looking sorta pale and dark around the eyes.”

“It’s only because I really work for a living.” Kya returned the smirk and glanced to the Zaofu guard standing silent and tall by the door. “I guess you’re the one who needs the repair.” She looked at the bruising around Kuvira’s nose as Kuvira’s eyes moved to hers.

“You look like you’re a difficult one.” Kya gave a small smile. “Come over and sit.”

* * *

A.N. Hopefully that wasn't too boring. lol. 


End file.
